Ninth Circuit Backs Microsoft in Royalty Dispute
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit became the second appellate court Thursday to wade into reasonable and nondiscriminatory patent licensing, upholding a $15 million judgment for Microsoft against Motorola but sidestepping one of the nagging questions in the area.
A panel led by Judge Marcia Berzon affirmed a groundbreaking 2013 award—the result of a combination bench and jury trial before U.S. District Judge James Robart of Washington—that arose from Motorola Inc.’s demand for a 2.25 percent royalty on Microsoft Corp.’s Xboxes and Windows products.
Microsoft sued on the ground that Motorola’s patents are essential to complying with IEEE standards for WiFi and video-compression technology, and that Motorola was breaching its commitment to license them at reasonable and nondiscriminatory rates. Thursday’s decision was the second from the Ninth Circuit in the case—the court previously blocked Motorola from enforcing an injunction against Microsoft in Germany.
Read more: http://www.law.com/sites/articles/2015/07/30/ninth-circuit-backs-microsoft-in-royalty-dispute/#ixzz3hmnCoply