Motorola Asks for Halt on XBOX360 Sales

So the lawsuit back-and-forth between Microsoft and Motorola continues. After Microsoft sued Motorola over their Android handsets and Motorola hit back with a lawsuit of their own, here is another chapter of the tale, with Motorola asking for a ban on gaming console XBOX360’s sales.

Mary Sue Mary

The dispute dates back to when Microsoft sued Motorola, alleging discriminatory pricing for licensing of the Wi-fi and H.264 technologies. Motorola, as a member of the IEEE is obligated to allow others to license its technologies for a fair royalty that remains the same for everyone. Now, Motorola has approached the US International Trade Commission (ITC) and has asked for the ban because it believes Microsoft hasn’t paid up and wants to stop XBOX360 sales until the dispute is resolved.

Why is the ITC involved? Well, the XBOX360 is manufactured in China and imported to the US, which means it’s in direct violation of the Tariff Act if it is indeed infringing on patent rights. Anyway, the ITC has said the matter is under investigation and that they’ll rule on the case in early 2011. However, there’s been no news on whether Motorola’s request will be granted.

Anyway, a halt on sales would be a huge blow for the Microsoft and the XBOX360. What with Kinect having just come out and the console’s general sales frequency, they could stand to lose a lot of money over this.

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via Slashdot