Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Xbox Did Not Infringe on Motorola: ITC Judge

An administrative law judge for the U.S. International Trade Commission issued a preliminary ruling Friday that said Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) did not infringe on patents held by Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) subsidiary Motorola Mobility in regards to the Xbox game console. This has been a protracted fight between Motorola Mobility and Microsoft, with the former claiming that it had patents on some of the technology that is used to operate the Xbox console.

No full details of the decision was not made immediately available, but an administrative judge heard the case and decided that Microsoft did not, in fact, infringe on the disputed patents. Motorola Mobility had brought the case to the ITC in the hopes of finding that Microsoft infringed on the patents and would then seek a U.S. import ban on Xbox consoles that were found to infringe. But now that won’t be necessary, at least not yet.

A final decision on the case by the full Commission is slated for July.

This is the second such patent case involving a major tech company that had a decision posted after Friday’s trading. A little earlier, Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) was slapped with $70 million in damages after it was found  to have fraudulently obtained patented technology from XpertUniverse plus also infringing on two other patents. That case was decided in a federal court in Delaware.

What are your thoughts about this case? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

DISCLOSURE: I own no positions in any stock mentioned.

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