ITC bans Motorola mobile devices for infringing Microsoft patent

[![Image][1] ][2]

At the end of last year, an Administrative Law Judge issued an [initial ruling][3] that Motorola's mobile devices infringe a bit of Microsoft's IP. Now, the Commission has affirmed that decision and issued an exclusion order to ban Moto's offending devices from importation into the US. In case you weren't aware, the four patent claims at issue generally cover technology for scheduling meetings over email using a mobile device. So, unless Motorola removes the feature, pays for a license or whips up a workaround Microsoft's patent in short order, all its RAZRs, Droid 4s, Bionics and other handsets will be stuck in customs alongside [HTC's One X and EVO 4G LTE][4] -- that is, unless Obama steps in to save the day during the prescribed presidential review period. Microsoft, naturally, is quite pleased with this development and has issued a statement:

> 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

We've reached out to Motorola for comment on the matter as well, so stay tuned to see what it has to say.

[ITC bans Motorola mobile devices for infringing Microsoft patent][2] originally appeared on [Engadget][5] on Fri, 18 May 2012 17:21:00 EDT. Please see our [terms for use of feeds][6].

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