Judge rules in favor of Motorola over Xbox patent claims

A U.S. International Trade Commission judge has ruled that Microsoft infringed on a number of patents from Motorola Mobility Holdings when it produced its Xbox 360 console. The Google subsidiary had previously claimed that Microsoft's Xbox 360 infringed on five of its patents, including video decoding and wi-fi technology from the company. A judge yesterday agreed that Microsoft has infringed on four of these patents, although he threw out one of the claims. The judge's findings will now be referred to a full commission board, who will review the decision and issue a final ruling in August. If the commission agrees with the judge, Motorola Mobility will have the chance to block imports of Xbox 360 hardware from entering the U.S., unless Microsoft can reach a settlement agreement with the company. "Microsoft continues to infringe Motorola Mobility's patent portfolio, and we remain confident in our position," said Becki Leonard, a spokeswoman for Motorola Mobility, said to Bloomberg. "This case was filed in response to Microsoft’s litigate-first patent attack strategy, and we look forward to the full commission's ruling in August." However, a spokesperson for Microsoft said that the company remains confident that the commission will overrule the judge, and rule in favor of Microsoft. "Motorola will be held to its promise to make its standard-essential patents available on fair and reasonable terms," it said, referring to a lawsuit which Microsoft filed against Motorola back in 2010.