Microsoft Sues US Customs For Allowing Imports of Banned Motorola Phones

SmartAboutThings writes "Microsoft filed a lawsuit on Friday accusing the United States Customs of secretly meeting with Google representatives to allow imports of Motorola devices that are infringing on Microsoft's ActiveSync technology and therefore should be banned." The article lists 18 (older) Android devices that are named in the complaint; Xoom owners just got some street cred.

Comments

Rogue Fed Departments?

[Freshly Exhumed]

From a Bloomberg article: 'U.S. Customs and Border Protection, after having secret meetings with Google, continued to let the Motorola Mobility mobile phones enter the country even though Google has done nothing to remove the feature at the heart of the ITC case, Microsoft said in the complaint. The case illustrates what Lexmark International Inc. (LXK) and Lutron Electronics Co. in May called an “increasingly ineffective and unpredictable enforcement” of import bans imposed by the trade agency.'

Employing bureaucratic shortcuts is apparently alive and well. Does this point to corruption, or is it simply a matter of poor information flow?

News at 11

[Anonymous Coward]

Giant douchebag US megacorp calls out anoother giant douchebag US megacorp for being giant douchebags. Free world doesn't care, wherever that is. Next up, the weather.

Incomplete information

[Anonymous Psychopath]

TFA fails to mention that the ITC ruling provides a 60-day review period, during which Moto posts a bond of $0.33 per device imported. That period expires Monday. So far they've not done anything wrong. They could simply stop importing those models prior to Monday, surrender the bond, and be in full compliance with the ITC order.