In the ongoing dispute between Motorola and Microsoft, Obama may be the Xbox 360’s only hope.
Judge David Shaw has recommended to the International Trade Commission that imports of Xbox 4GB and 250GB consoles to the United States should be banned because the technology infringes Motorola patents. If the ITC accepts Judge Shaw’s recommendation then President Obama has sixty days to review the decision before it passes to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
The Judge also suggested that Microsoft post a bond equivalent to 7% the value of unsold consoles already within the United States, falling far short of Motorola’s request of 100%.
This recommendation follows Judge Shaw’s decision, announced in April, that Microsoft had infringed on four Motorola patents. You may recall that Germany has attempted a similar ban, though this was temporarily blocked by a US court decision.
Microsoft claimed that such a ban would be bad for the consumer, arguing that a restriction on imports would leave Sony and Nintendo the dominant force in the market. Judge Shaw didn’t think much of that line of reasoning, however, saying that protecting intellectual property was more important.
The public version of Judge Shaw’s decision has yet to be released; the decision, by necessity, includes proprietary information, which neither Microsoft nor Motorola wants published in a public forum.
Sources: Courthouse News, Eurogamer
