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Microsoft Files EU Antitrust Complaint Against Motorola Mobility

Posted by Unknown on from the evil-fighting-evil dept.

judgecorp writes "Microsoft has filed a complaint with the European Commission complaining that Motorola Mobility is charging too much for use of its patented technology in phones and tablets. The complaint follows a similar one by Apple last week, and will need to be resolved by Google as it takes charge of Motorola Mobility."

7 of 148 comments (clear)

  1. Did they ever commit to licensing on FRAND terms? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It sounds as if these are patents that Motorola never undertook to license on FRAND terms. Does anyone know whether that's accurate? It's hard to see why just becase a bunch of other people want to create a standard and license their own patents on FRAND that that should mean that everyone else has to as well. (Of course the patents themselves, like most such patents, are probably crap but that's another matter.)

  2. Re:MS is not seen as trustworthy by EC by Tastecicles · · Score: 3, Interesting

    and as far as I'm aware, the rolling fine the EC imposed on Microsoft is still going.

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    Operation Guillotine is in effect.
  3. Re:Great timing by viperidaenz · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So After reading TFA, This is about H.264. Wasn't Microsoft a backer of H.264 a few year ago? When Google was promoting their free WebM codec back in the whole HTML5 Video thing? Something along the lines of "If you use a non-free codec in HTML you will kill video on the web". All this before Google tried to buy Motorola.

  4. Re:That's rich by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Your post is meaningless without context. What is the quality of the 2,300 patents vs the 50 that Moto holds? One of Motorola's patents could be worth 10 times all of the 2300 patents MS has put together. Just going by raw numbers is disingenuous.

  5. Re:That's rich by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 4, Interesting

    MS currently licence 2,300 patents relating to H.264 for 2 cents per unit. Google/Motorola want $22.50 for the remaining 50 patents it holds, per unit

    This is unjustifiable on Motorolas part

    Not all patents have equal value. Numbers alone do not tell the whole story.

    And I find it completely justifiable on Motorola's part, given Microsoft's treatment of them.

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    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
  6. Are we not objective anymore? by js3 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've been reading the comments, and there doesn't seem to be any talk about the argument at all. Just "taste of your own medicine" "deserves it" "that's rich". Are we too blinded by fanbiosm to even have a valid discussion anymore?

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    did you forget to take your meds?
  7. Re:That's rich by recoiledsnake · · Score: 3, Interesting

    >Standards that MS forced onto the industry, like Fat32, ExFat, MTP. The list goes on and on.

    Microsoft did not promise patent immunity over Fat32, which became a defacto standard.

    Careful what you wish for, it may be granted.

    This will open a Pandora's box on technology used to implement standards.

    Nokia has the most patents on LTE which are deemed standards essential.

    http://www.itproportal.com/2012/02/22/nokia-samsung-qualcomm-hold-most-lte-patents-claims-study/

    What if they sue Apple, Motorola for $50 per device based on Motorola getting away with this?

    Will they roll out their own towers with their own 4G technology around the world?

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    This space for rent.