Xbox 360 'infringes' Motorola patents

Xbox 360 'infringes' Motorola patents
Microsoft fighting off Moto's patent punch

Motorola's bounty of patents may well have taken another scalp, with news that Microsoft's Xbox 360 console may be infringing on a number of the company's patents.

The International Trade Commission in the US has been looking into claims that the console could be using some of Motorola's intellectual property and has come to a preliminary ruling that this is indeed the case.

The judge who has decided Moto's toes are being stepped on is David Shaw. In his report he outlines four out of five of Motorola's claims that its IP is being used in the console, including the ability to move video files efficiently and connecting wirelessly to the internet.

Remain confident

Microsoft is remaining upbeat about this initial ruling, believing that the judge will side with it before the case closes later in the year.

"Today's recommendation by the administrative law judge is the first step in the process leading to the Commission's final ruling," explained Microsoft to the Associated Press.

"We remain confident the Commission will ultimately rule in Microsoft's favour in this case and that Motorola will be held to its promise to make its standard essential patents available on fair and reasonable terms."

Microsoft has been busy itself with the selling of patents. Just this week it agreed a deal with Facebook to buy up its AOL IP, with Facebook spending $550 million (£340 million) on the patents.

Via AFP

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.