U.S. District Judge James Robart, in a Seattle federal court, ruled that Microsoft should pay Motorola $1.8 million a year to license some of the latter's standards-essential patents. These are patents that are required to build certain devices and the negotiations for licensing them are supposed to be done in a "Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory" manner. The patents in question deal with Motorola's patents for the H.264 video standard and the 802.11 wireless standard. Motorola was seeking $4 billion a year from Microsoft for the rights to use the patents.
Motorola appears to hsave been asking too much from Microsoft to license the patents in question
In making the ruling, the court said that there were 92 different companies with patents related to the 802.11 wireless standard. If each company were to receive the 1.15% to 1.73% royalty that Motorola is demanding, the cost of using the wireless networking standard would exceed what Microsoft is asking for the Xbox which uses the 802.11 wireless technology.
Both sides issued statements afterward with Microsoft Deputy General Counsel David Howard saying, "This decision is good for consumers because it ensures patented technology committed to standards remains affordable for everyone." Motorola simply said that it "...has licensed its substantial patent portfolio on reasonable rates consistent with those set by others in the industry.”
Recommended For You
An Administrative Law Judge last month ruled that Microsoft did not infringe on Motorola's patents covering H.264 and 802.11. This is a separate issue than determining what Microsoft should pay to license the same exact patents. The entire 6 member ITC commission is reviewing that decision.
Get a free Galaxy A17 with Straight Talk. To claim this deal, you need to pair the phone with activation on a Silver Unlimited Plan or higher. This tier costs $45 per month. Offer valid through 01/10/27 while supplies last online.
Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.
A discussion is a place, where people can voice their opinion, no matter if it
is positive, neutral or negative. However, when posting, one must stay true to the topic, and not just share some
random thoughts, which are not directly related to the matter.
Things that are NOT allowed:
Off-topic talk - you must stick to the subject of discussion
Offensive, hate speech - if you want to say something, say it politely
Spam/Advertisements - these posts are deleted
Multiple accounts - one person can have only one account
Impersonations and offensive nicknames - these accounts get banned
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts:
New accounts created within the last 24 hours may experience restrictions on how frequently they can
post or comment.
These limits are in place as a precaution and will automatically lift.
Moderation is done by humans. We try to be as objective as possible and moderate with zero bias. If you think a
post should be moderated - please, report it.
Have a question about the rules or why you have been moderated/limited/banned? Please,
contact us.
Things that are NOT allowed:
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts: