Microsoft has to be breathing a little easier now, after a judge has ruled that the Xbox 360 will not be banned from sale in the US and Germany.The new judgment comes in the wake of a patent dispute case – which Motorola won earlier this year – that saw a German judge ban the Xbox 360 from being sold in Germany. They added a recommendation that the same thing happen in the United States. The ban also applied to Windows 7 software, Internet Explorer, and Windows Media Player, after Motorola successfully argued that Microsoft ripped off four technology patents they had on file for streaming video and video compression, which could impact how much we pay for future consoles. Motorola’s also seeking $4-billion per year in punishment; Microsoft isn’t denying that they owe Motorola, but do argue that the patents are only worth $1-billion per year.
The judge in this new development didn’t say why he’s reversing the original decision, which was actually backed up by the US International Trade Commission. The matter of how much Microsoft will be forced to pay is still up for debate, but at least for gamers, the biggest problem has been resolved: you’ll be able to legally buy an Xbox 360 for the foreseeable future.
