Motorola Mobility Holdings can’t seek to ban Microsoft’s Windows products or Xbox gaming systems from the German market, a US judge presiding over a contract dispute between the two companies ruled
Motorola Mobility, which owns patents related to industry standards for video compression and WiFi, petitioned a German court to ban Microsoft products that comply with those standards. Microsoft asked US District Judge James Robart in Seattle to bar Motorola Mobility taking any further steps in the German case until after a trial can be held on the contract dispute between the two companies.
A German court in Mannheim is scheduled to issue a ruling May 2 that might have allowed Motorola Mobility to exclude Microsoft from the German market. Robart ruled in a hearing on Thursday in Seattle that Motorola Mobility can’t take any steps to seek such a ban of Windows or Xbox, according to a statement from Microsoft, as Bloomberg stated.
“Motorola promised to make its patents available to Microsoft and other companies on fair and reasonable terms,” Microsoft Deputy General Counsel David Howard said in the statement. The “ruling means Motorola can’t prevent Microsoft from selling products until the court decides whether Motorola has lived up to its promise”.
