Microsoft Tastes Victory in Motorola SEP Dispute

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has upheld a $14.5 million damages award in favour of Microsoft in its standard-essential patent (SEP) licensing row with Motorola.


In a judgment handed down on July 30, the court re-affirmed a lower court’s ruling that former telecoms company Motorola had breached its reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND) licensing commitments to Microsoft.


Motorola, which was bought by Google in 2012 but has since been sold off, had appealed against a 2013 decision by the US District Court for the Western District of Washington. At the centre of the dispute are a number of Motorola’s SEPs related to the H.264 video and the 802.11 wireless industry standards that had been used by technology in Microsoft’s Xbox games console.


Motorola had demanded that Microsoft pay $4 billion in royalties ever year, a move that prompted Microsoft to file for a declaratory judgment in 2010 that the request violated RAND terms.


Motorola appealed against the ruling, arguing that the district court overstepped its mark by judging what would be a reasonable royalty rate and that the court also erred in awarding Microsoft the damages and attorneys’ fees.