Microsoft and Motorola Mobility continue to battle it out in the courtroom. Yesterday a U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) judge ruled in favor of Microsoft, but not by a lot. There were 7 patents on the table and the ruling found that Motorola infringed on one of those patents, but didn’t violate on the remaining six.
This ruling was made by Theodore Essex and it’s considered an “initial ruling,” which means it still has to be reviewed by the full commission. A final decision is expected to take place on April 20, 2012.
Microsoft originally filed this complaint a little over a year ago, on October 2010. The patent in question involves, “generating meeting requests and group scheduling from a mobile device.” I don’t know about you, but doesn’t this seem a little ridiculous that a company could own a patent on such a thing? Why don’t we just have a patent for actually holding your phone.
Motorola had this to say:
“We are very pleased that the majority of the rulings were favorable to Motorola Mobility,” said Scott Offer, senior vice president and general counsel of Motorola Mobility. “The ALJ’s initial determination may provide clarity on the definition of the Microsoft 566 patent for which a violation was found and will help us avoid infringement of this patent in the U.S. market.”
[via pcmag]