“Google Inc.’s Motorola Mobility told a U.S. appeals court today a Microsoft Corp. patent that led to an import ban on its phones is the ‘poster child’ for common ideas being applied to new devices and labeled an invention,” Susan Decker reports for Bloomberg News.
“Motorola Mobility is seeking to invalidate the patent that it concedes it has infringed. The U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington issued an import ban in May 2012 after finding that Motorola Mobility devices violated the patent,” Decker reports. “The patent is part of Microsoft’s ActiveSync software that Motorola Mobility used to license before the two companies started fighting. The case is part of a broader argument by Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft that Google’s market-dominant Android operating system uses its technology. Motorola Mobility, which was aquired by Google in 2012, is one of the biggest holdouts of a licensing program that Microsoft started three years ago.”
Decker reports, “Microsoft contends any Motorola Mobility phone that has the syncing feature infringes the patent, and has sued U.S. Customs, saying its officials aren’t stopping phones from crossing the U.S. border.”
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