ITC: Motorola infringes Microsoft patent

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A US judge has issued an initial ruling saying Motorola Mobility infringed one Microsoft patent.

The International Trade Commission (ITC) judge ruled six other disputed patents were not infringed. Microsoft has about 30 patents in action against Motorola.

The infringed patent covers a technology for "generating meeting requests and group scheduling from a mobile device," it emerged yesterday.

"It's a fairly interesting patent. The way I understand it (based on the patent document and the claim chart), it enables users to schedule meeting requests from mobile devices," said IP expert Florian Mueller.

"For business users, that's an essential feature. If they're on travel or even just at lunch or in a meeting room, they want to be able to schedule meetings without having to go back to their office. Scheduling meetings is also increasingly popular on some social networks, so it's probably a feature for both enterprise users and consumers."

Motorola was happy six claims were denied, saying it believes Microsoft is infringing its patents too and is in various court battles in the ITC and elsewhere.

“We are very pleased that the majority of the rulings were favorable to Motorola Mobility,” Scott Offer, senior vice president and general counsel of Motorola Mobility, said yesterday.

"The ALJ's [Administrative Law Judge'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 US market.”

Even though the initial ruling could change when the final ruling is made in 2012, the decision will be something of a setback for Google and its Android operating system.

Microsoft has sought to avoid courts in many cases, instead choosing to chase license fees from Android phone manufacturers.

In October, the Redmond giant announced it had acquired its 10th Android patent license deal. It claimed to have patent license agreements with companies producing half of all Android devices, including HTC and Samsung.

Motorola is not currently one of those companies.

Apple is also fighting numerous Android phone manufacturers in court. Earlier this week, it emerged Apple won a minor skirmish against HTC. The ITC ruled that HTC infringed on one of four patents Apple had disputed.

BT has gone directly for Google's jugular, claiming the internet giant had infringed on six patents in various products, including Android.

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