Microsoft won a small victory in its patent battle with Motorola. A ruling handed down by The Munich Regional Court said Motorola violated a text messaging patent held by Microsoft. The patent describes a method of “communicating multi-part messages between cellular devices using a standardized interface.” Microsoft can enforce a ban on the sale of Motorola Android phones in Germany, but the Redmond company will have to post a 25 million euro ($31.3 million) bond first.
As expected, Microsoft is pleased with the ruling. Microsoft deputy general counsel David Howard said in a statement,
“We’re 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. ”
Motorola was less enthusiastic about the outcome and told Reuters it “”We expect a written decision from the court on June 1 and upon review, will explore all options including appeal. ”
In another separate case also decided today in a German court, Motorola was found not to be infringing on a localization patent owned by Microsoft.
[Via Reuters]