Microsoft scores major patent victory in Germany, Google’s Motorola smartphones and tablets banned

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imageAllthingsD reports that Microsoft has won a major victory against Google in Germany.

The German court determined that Google’s Motorola infringed on a very broad Microsoft patent which addressed the fundamentals of Android.

The patent at issue  covers “a method and system for receiving user input data into a computer system having a graphical windowing environment”  and is expected to be pretty difficult to work around.

Microsoft has been granted the right to ban the sale of Motorola’s tablets and smartphones as long as Microsoft pays a bond of $61.4 million, which is of course a pittance for the company.

From Microsoft’s statement Microsoft fully intends to do this, with Deputy General Counsel Dave Howard saying in a statement:

“We’re pleased this decision builds on previous rulings in Germany that have already found Motorola is broadly infringing Microsoft’s intellectual property. We will continue to enforce injunctions against Motorola products in Germany and hope Motorola will join other Android device makers by taking a license to Microsoft’s patented inventions.”

Microsoft has won 2 earlier victories against the company, and together with the Samsung/Apple ruling there is an air of the patent war turning decisively against Google.

Of course unlike with Apple all Google will have to do to make the problem go away is pay an Android license fee to Microsoft, which would of course be the ultimate irony.

Google is yet to comment on the ruling.

More about the topics: android, germany, google, microsoft, motorola, patents

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