Skip to main content

Microsoft wins patent injunction against Google's Motorola in Germany

Microsoft wins patent injunction against Google's Motorola in Germany

/

A German regional court has issued an injunction against Google subsidiary Motorola Mobility based on claims that it infringed one of Microsoft's patents.

Share this story

Motorola logo
Motorola logo

A German regional court has issued an injunction against Google subsidiary Motorola Mobility based on claims that it infringed one of Microsoft's patents. FOSS Patents reports that Motorola is banned from selling Android devices that infringe on EP1304891, a patent that covers "communicating multi-part messages between cellular devices using a standardized interface" and is held by Microsoft. This means that Android's messaging system would need to be changed to work around the patent, a more difficult challenge than HTC faced when it redesigned its own Android build after an Apple suit.

Microsoft has responded to the injunction, saying that it was "pleased the court agreed today that Motorola has infringed Microsoft's intellectual property, and we hope Motorola will be willing to join other Android device makers by taking a license to our patents." Google was recently cleared of patent infringement charges from Oracle, but Android's legal entanglements are far from over. Motorola is still enmeshed in its own suit against Microsoft, which it says has infringed on a video patent, but a US federal judge has overruled an injunction that would prevent Microsoft from selling products in Germany. Motorola has also won a more symbolic injunction against Apple for yet another patent case.