It was quite the week for news about U.S. smartphone imports. Early in the week, U.S. Customs imposed import delays on the HTC One X and HTC EVO 4G LTE over a patent infringement case between Apple and HTC. On Friday, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) imposed a similar ban on a number of Motorola smartphones over a patent infringement case brought about by Microsoft back in October 2010.
“Microsoft sued Motorola in the ITC only after Motorola chose to refuse Microsoft’s efforts to renew a patent license for well over a year,” David Howard, Microsoft’s corporate vice president and deputy general counsel, said in a statement. “We’re pleased the full Commission agreed that Motorola has infringed Microsoft’s intellectual property, and we hope that now Motorola will be willing to join the vast majority of Android device makers selling phones in the U.S. by taking a license to our patents.”
A specific list of Motorola devices to be held was not provided. In its suit, Microsoft named a larger number of devices including the ATRIX, DROID X, DROID X2 and the XOOM tablet. To avoid the ban, Motorola could remove the technologies in quetion from its smartphones and tablets. It could also license them from Microsoft. It could also appeal the ruling, an option it has not ruled out.
The ITC order has been sent to President Barack Obama who can overturn the decision within the next 60 days for policy reasons. In the meantime, Motorola shipments will not be affected.
Read more: Reuters