Microsoft wins German patent battle against Motorola

SOFTWARE HOUSE Microsoft has won a German patent lawsuit against Motorola, after a judge ruled that Motorola infringes one of the Redmond firm's patents.

The German court ruled that Motorola's mobile devices infringe a Microsoft patent on methods for apps to handle different kinds of user input from onscreen keyboards, handwriting and voice recognition.

Microsoft's feeling pretty chuffed, as this is its third court victory against Motorola.

In a statement to The Seattle Times, a Microsoft spokesperson said, "We're pleased this decision builds on previous rulings in Germany that have already found Motorola is broadly infringing Microsoft's intellectual property.

"We will continue to enforce injunctions against Motorola products in Germany and hope Motorola will join other Android device makers by taking a license to Microsoft's patented inventions."

It's still unclear which Motorola products Microsoft will seek to ban in Germany.

Motorola also issued a statement, saying, "We are waiting for the written decision and are evaluating our options, including an appeal."

Oddly enough, the same German court also ruled last week that Motorola infringes Apple's patent for "over scroll bounce," technology that lets users' displays bounce back to the middle of a webpage when they've reached the bottom by swiping down on the touchscreen. µ