Microsoft Wins US Import Ban On Motorola's Android Devices

jbrodkin writes "The U.S. International Trade Commission today ordered an import ban on Motorola Mobility Android products, agreeing with Microsoft that the devices infringe a Microsoft patent on 'generating meeting requests' from a mobile device. The import ban stems from a December ruling that the Motorola Atrix, Droid, and Xoom (among 18 total devices) infringed the patent, which Microsoft says is related to Exchange ActiveSync technology. Today, the ITC said in a 'final determination of violation' (PDF) that 'the appropriate form of relief in this investigation is a limited exclusion order prohibiting the unlicensed entry for consumption of mobile devices, associated software and components thereof covered by ... United States Patent No. 6,370,566 and that are manufactured abroad by or on behalf of, or imported by or on behalf of, Motorola.' Motorola (which is being acquired by Google) was the last major Android device maker not to pay off Microsoft in a patent licensing deal. Microsoft has already responded to the decision, saying it hopes Motorola will now reconsider."

Re:Justice was fairly served

[andrew3]

Yes, because we all know Microsoft invented the smartphone... wait, what?

Because we can all see how important Microsoft's smartphone inventions have been to the public, by the success of their phones. </sarcasm>

Re:Generating meeting requests?

[santax]

Come on, if you can't patent sending a message asking someone to meet up with you, than what is the point to further try to innovate? It probably took millions spend in think-tanks just for the idea! Let alone the implementation!