Microsoft Corp won a federal trade ruling that will force Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc to alter software on some of its Android-based mobile phones to keep bringing them into the US.
A US International Trade Commission judge found that Motorola Mobility infringed a patent covering a program by Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft called ActiveSync, which lets users generate meeting requests among a group. Six other patents were not violated, the judge ruled.
The ruling must still be reviewed by US President Barack Obama, who can override the order on public policy grounds.
“We hope that now Motorola will be willing to join the vast majority of Android device makers selling phones in the US. by taking a license to our patents,” Microsoft’s deputy general counsel David Howard said in an e-mailed statement.
An exclusion order would affect Droid 2, Droid X, i1, Cliq XT, Devour, Backflip, Charm and Clip models, according to a filing with the International Trade Commission.
Motorola Mobility said it was disappointed and would explore options including an appeal.
“Motorola Mobility will not experience any impact in the near term,” a company spokeswoman Jennifer Erickson said in an e-mail.
The ruling probably will push Motorola to reach a settlement and pay Microsoft a licensing fee instead of having to modify the phone software, said Charlie Wolf, an analyst with Needham & Co in New York.
“These cases usually end up with the parties settling,” Wolf said.
The case is part of a broader effort by Microsoft and Apple Inc to curtail the growth of mobile devices that run on Google Inc’s Android operating system. Google licenses Android for free to further its mobile-advertising business.
The platform has become the most popular for smartphones, with more than half of a market for mobile devices that Yankee Group has projected will reach US$360 billion this year.
Microsoft contends it should be paid royalties by makers of mobile devices that run on Android. The software maker has reached licensing deals with Samsung Electronics Co and HTC Corp (宏達電).
Motorola Mobility, which is being bought by Google, refused to pay and instead struck back in a case at the trade agency.
Microsoft’s willingness to license is different from Apple, which wants makers of Android smartphones to make changes to its devices, Wolf said.
SETBACK: Apple’s India iPhone push has been disrupted after Foxconn recalled hundreds of Chinese engineers, amid Beijing’s attempts to curb tech transfers Apple Inc assembly partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has recalled about 300 Chinese engineers from a factory in India, the latest setback for the iPhone maker’s push to rapidly expand in the country. The extraction of Chinese workers from the factory of Yuzhan Technology (India) Private Ltd, a Hon Hai component unit, in southern Tamil Nadu state, is the second such move in a few months. The company has started flying in Taiwanese engineers to replace staff leaving, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named, as the
The prices of gasoline and diesel at domestic fuel stations are to rise NT$0.1 and NT$0.4 per liter this week respectively, after international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to rise to NT$27.3, NT$28.8 and NT$30.8 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to rise to NT$26.2 per liter at CPC stations and NT$26 at Formosa pumps, they said. The announcements came after international crude oil prices
A German company is putting used electric vehicle batteries to new use by stacking them into fridge-size units that homes and businesses can use to store their excess solar and wind energy. This week, the company Voltfang — which means “catching volts” — opened its first industrial site in Aachen, Germany, near the Belgian and Dutch borders. With about 100 staff, Voltfang says it is the biggest facility of its kind in Europe in the budding sector of refurbishing lithium-ion batteries. Its CEO David Oudsandji hopes it would help Europe’s biggest economy ween itself off fossil fuels and increasingly rely on climate-friendly renewables. While
SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控) is weighing whether to add a life insurance business to its portfolio, but would tread cautiously after completing three acquisitions in quick succession, president Stanley Chu (朱士廷) said yesterday. “We are carefully considering whether life insurance should play a role in SinoPac’s business map,” Chu told reporters ahead of an earnings conference. “Our priority is to ensure the success of the deals we have already made, even though we are tracking some possible targets.” Local media have reported that Mercuries Life Insurance Co (三商美邦人壽), which is seeking buyers amid financial strains, has invited three financial