This fascinating US Court of Appeals (9th Circuit) case shows in a snapshot how companies are using and abusing the regulation of code for commercial gain - a patent-RAND-standards arms race, if you will. Motorola (which was bought by Google for its patent treasure chest) holds patents that are essential to the H.264 ITU-approved video compression standard used by the entire industry. Microsoft uses this in its operating systems and video player - and here Motorola decided not to play fair with RAND, and to seek an order in Germany forum-shopping away from the US. Motorola even reduced its 100s of patents licensed under RAND to just two in Germany - a ruse criticised by the US Appeals court as undermining and simplifying ad absurdum the licensing issues involved. Naughty Motorola-Google!
COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT: MICROSOFT CORPORATION v. MOTOROLA, INC. No. 12-35352 D.C. No. 2:10-cv-01823 JLR
COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT: MICROSOFT CORPORATION v. MOTOROLA, INC. No. 12-35352 D.C. No. 2:10-cv-01823 JLR
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