Earlier in the week we ran a story on the current feud in which Motorola has claimed 5 infringements on their wireless technology by Microsoft, calling for a ban on Xbox sales. A couple of moths ago, an judge for the US International Trade commission sided with Motorola, agreeing that it did infringe upon these patents, and recommending that the government demand a halt of sales of the 4GB and 250GB versions of the Xbox.
However, the movement has seen much opposition from third party firms like Cisco, Activision, Nokia, Intel, and HP. Now Microsoft has found an unlikely ally in Apple, as one of their attorneys, Mark Davis. Motorola is now catching heat from many such tech industry companies due to abuse of FRAND which is a ‘reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing” agreement that sets the standard for the industry patent licensing. According to Davis,””Apple respectfully submits that any exclusion order directed against Microsoft would significantly undermine the standards-setting process and frustrate the purpose of FRAND”.
Expect interest in this story to grow in the coming days as the German government has enacted a ban on certain Microsoft products they have found to infringe upon Motorola’s patents.
(Via CVG)