Home Gaming The Motorola / Xbox case is finally over… we won

The Motorola / Xbox case is finally over… we won

1 min read
14

Xbox360AndController

It was about a year ago that a judge in the US ruled that Motorola would be allowed to stop all imports of the Xbox 360 into America until a patent lawsuit was completed. Thankfully some logic prevailed and the imports weren’t stopped but the case has been rumbling on and has finally come to a close..

What made this case unique was that at no time was Microsoft saying that they weren’t using the Motorola technology; they just felt that Motorola was asking for too much in the form of royalties and wanted a judge to set a RAND for them, RAND apparently stands for Reasonable And Non Discriminatory royalty range.

The patents were for the ubiquitous 802.11 wifi ability and the H.264 video codec. Both of these technologies are industry standards and if Motorola was allowed to charge the full 2.25% of the product price then it would mean that Microsoft would have to fork over $4 Billion a year to cover the patent costs. Which would mean we’d be charged more for consoles and Windows software to ensure the Microsoft shareholders still got their pound of flesh.

However in the end the judge has ruled that Microsoft must pay 0.555 cents for each product that uses Motorolla’s H.264 video codec, capped at 16.389 per unit. How you get more than one product per unit is unknown to me but there you go. As for the wifi, Motorola will now get 3.471 cents per Xbox sold and 0.8 cents for every other Microsoft product that uses it.

in the end, this means Microsoft will be forced to pay $1.8 million per annum, which is a far cry from $4 Billion.

This of course means that we will be charged less at retail…right? That’s how it works right? What do you mean it just means the shareholders get more profit and we pay the same price… that’s not right.

Last Updated: April 29, 2013

14 Comments

  1. Admiral Chief Erwin

    April 29, 2013 at 11:28

    Yup, consumers need this

    Reply

    • Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew

      April 29, 2013 at 11:42

      lol

      Reply

  2. Anon A Mouse

    April 29, 2013 at 11:54

    Take a guess which company is American and which isn’t.

    Reply

    • HvR

      April 29, 2013 at 12:08

      ????
      Microsoft – American multinational
      Motorolla Mobility (start as a part of Motorola and American multinational) owned by Google an American multinational.

      Reply

      • Anon A Mouse

        April 29, 2013 at 12:20

        Jip, my bad. Too early on a Monday to think straight it seems.

        Reply

  3. Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew

    April 29, 2013 at 12:09

    Wait, Microsoft claiming unfair royalty charges? Really? Well that’s the pot calling the kettle black

    Reply

  4. HvR

    April 29, 2013 at 12:18

    Note to Gavin, maybe be a bit more specific which Motorola you are referring too. With the break up of Motorola there are 3 floating around.
    Motorola Solutions (nearest to the old Motorola) – develop and manufacture radios
    Motorola Mobility – their mobile phone division which is now owned by Google (involved in the lawsuit)
    Motorola M2M – bought by Teilit, these days rarely uses the Motorola brand name

    Reply

    • Brady miaau

      April 29, 2013 at 13:18

      M2M is awesom company though. Clever people

      Reply

      • HvR

        April 29, 2013 at 14:57

        Very helpful as well, but lost some its flare when Telit bought it. Cinterion stays my sweetheart in the M2M industry, everything just works.

        Reply

  5. Brady miaau

    April 29, 2013 at 13:19

    As a general note, as MS updates our XBox, I noticed that movies and AVI / WMV files that used to work no longer work. And I believe that was done to avoid copy right issues

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Check Also

Manchester United Sues Football Manager Over Use of their Name and Fan Mods

Manchester United, that massive global football brand whose fans are as equally annoying a…