Motorola Android handsets banned from the US due to infringing Microsoft patent

It seems Motorola’s gamble did not pay off. While most Android OEMs decided to pay Microsoft’s Android patent license fee, Motorola decided to take their chances in court.

Now the ITC has confirmed Motorola infringes on Microsoft’s four patents for scheduling meetings over email using a mobile device.

The decision affect all Motorola’s Android handsets, and the ITC has issued an exclusion order to ban Motorola’s offending devices from importation into the US.

Microsoft has issued a statement saying:

Microsoft sued Motorola in the ITC only after Motorola chose to refuse Microsoft’s efforts to renew a patent license for well over a year. We’re pleased the full Commission agreed that Motorola has infringed Microsoft’s intellectual property, and we hope that now Motorola will be willing to join the vast majority of Android device makers selling phones in the US by taking a license to our patents.

— David Howard, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel Microsoft

The decision may still be overturned by a Presidential Review, but we suspect Motorola (and therefore very soon Google) will soon become a Microsoft Licensee.

Via Engadget.com

Thanks Milad for the tip.