A Seattle court previously decided that Motorola cannot force a ban of Microsoft’s (News - Alert) Xbox sales to Germany and now a United States Court of Appeals has upheld the decision made in the Seattle courtroom. The two companies have been trading jabs in a suit/countersuit battle over patents involving Android (News - Alert) and Wi-Fi and video-compression technology in Xboxes.

Motorola won a ban in Germany against Microsoft over video patents, however, United States courts feel that there could be problems with inconsistent judgments because the German case was filed after a similar case in the United States. 


Image via Shutterstock

When Google (News - Alert) purchased Motorola earlier this year, they acquired the ongoing battle and taking the issue to Germany was a move that Professor Brian Love of Santa Clara Law School told NBC was one that was based on the ease of obtaining an injunction, as it has a reputation “as a place you can go and get an injunction relatively easy”.

The Google-owned Motorola (News - Alert) stated that it was surprised Microsoft was trying to block the ban when they could have easily avoided the entire situation had they made an offer to obtain a license from Google. Motorola had to obtain a security bond to cover any of the losses from Microsoft during the appeal process. Microsoft tried to side-step everything by offering a $300m bond and would take the matter to court, if the offer was not accepted by Motorola.

NBC News reported that the court ruled that “At bottom, this case is a private dispute under Washington state contract law between two U.S. corporations.” The 9th circuit court had the power to pause the Mannheim-issued injunction because Microsoft and Motorola had already battled over breach of contract in the United States in 2010, when they said that the parts Motorola had the patents for were standard, essential, and that the company was requesting too much money for their use.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO Austin 2012, happening now in Austin, TX.  Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO (News - Alert). Follow us on Twitter.