ITC Throws Out B&N Antitrust Claims Against MS

N!NJA writes with an excerpt from a post by Florian Mueller: "Barnes & Noble's primary line of defense against Microsoft's allegations of patent infringement by the bookseller's Android-based devices has collapsed in its entirety. An Administrative Law Judge at the ITC today granted a Microsoft motion to dismiss, even ahead of the evidentiary trial that will start next Monday (February 6), Barnes & Noble's 'patent misuse' defense against Microsoft. [...] Prior to the ALJ, the ITC staff — or more precisely, the Office of Unfair Import Investigations (OUII), which participates in many investigations as a third party representing the public interest — already supported Microsoft's motion all the way. The OUII basically concluded that even if all of what Barnes & Noble said about Microsoft's use of patents against Android was accurate, it would fall far short of the legal requirements for a patent misuse defense."

Comments

Re:Florian Mueller?

[forkfail]

Except... for his closing remarks in the article:

Certainly patent law always favors the plaintiff, which is Microsoft in this scenario. And we knew that this was an uphill fight for Barnes & Noble anyway, given the tilt against what you and I would consider fairness in both patent and antitrust law. Patent misuse defenses are hard to win. But I seriously doubt this is the end of the story. Barnes & Noble has some of the finest law firms defending it, and law firms of that calibre don't just lay down and die when there is an adverse ruling.

Which translates to:

Barnes & Noble are basically screwed because that's what the law says. But they pay a lot of money to high priced lawyers, who will keep this thing going in the legal system for at least a few more years. Yeah, the law sucks - but hey! At least the lawyers will profit. After that, Microsoft will probably win.