After a two year dispute in multiple countries, Microsoft got away scot-free today when the International Trade Commission ruled that the Xbox 360 doesn't violate a Motorola held patent.
The case began with Motorola accusing Microsoft of infringing a total of five separate patents in 2010, but over the course of the case, four were dropped. The final patent in question involved the ability of devices to communicate wirelessly over short distances.
Previously, the ITC found that Microsoft infringed on four Motorola patents with its Xbox gaming console. At the time, US trade judge David Shaw recommended against the continued sale of the Xbox 360 in the US. This was following an injunction Motorola had filed against Microsoft which saw both the 360 and Windows 7 banned in Germany, due to infringement over a video compression patent. Later, after four of the charges were dropped, Shaw posted a note to the ITC website that the patent that was not in violation by the console. His recommendation went before the ITC committe, and Microsoft prevailed.
"This is a win for Xbox customers and confirms our view that Google had no grounds to block our products," says David Howard, a Microsoft deputy general counsel, in a statement to Reuters. Obviously, Motorola was not as celebratory. A spokesperson for the company says it is "disappointed with this decision" and that it will be evaluating its options.
