The legal tick-tack-toe between Microsoft and Motorola seems set to continue for some time as Motorola has announced that its subsidiary, Motorola Mobility, has filed complaints against Microsoft. 

 

These complaints, filed with the U.S. District Courts for the Southern District of Florida and the Western District of Wisconsin, claim infringements upon sixteen of the company’s patents by Microsoft’s PC and Server software, Windows mobile software as well as Xbox products.

 

The Motorola patents directed to PC and Server software relate to the Windows operating system (OS), digital video coding, email technology including Exchange, Messenger and Outlook, Windows Live instant messaging and object oriented software architecture. 

 

Whilst the Motorola patents directed to Windows mobile software relate to Windows Marketplace and Bing maps, with the Motorola patents directed to Xbox relate to digital video coding, Wi-Fi technology, as well as graphical passwords. 

 

Motorola Mobility has requested that Microsoft stop using its patented technology and present it with compensation for Redmond’s past infringement.

 

“Motorola’s R&D and intellectual property are of great importance to the Company and are renowned worldwide. We are committed to protecting the interests of our shareholders, customers and other stakeholders and are bringing this action against Microsoft in order to halt its infringement of key Motorola patents. Motorola has invested billions of dollars in R&D to create a deep and broad intellectual property portfolio and we will continue to do what is necessary to protect our proprietary technology,” stated Kirk Dailey, corporate vice president of intellectual property at Motorola Mobility. 

 

This legal action of Motorola’s comes in the wake of Microsoft suing Motorola (for the second time), claiming the company is charging excessive royalties for its patents that deal with wireless and video coding technology, which is employed by the Xbox team.

 

Dailey also addressed this issue saying that it is unfortunate “that Microsoft has chosen the litigation path rather than entering into comprehensive licensing negotiations, as Motorola has mutually beneficial licensing relationships with the great majority of technology companies industry-wide.”