Its a sad day for Xbox 360 players in Germany as a Mannheim court ruling today has effectively banned the sale of Xbox 360 consoles throughout the country and may even necessitate the recall of the consoles already on store shelves.
The ban comes as the result of an injunction filed by Motorola Mobility who claimed Microsoft had infringed two patents central to the H.264 video coding and playback. Well, apparently they were convincing enough to have their injunction granted and the distribution of key Microsoft products (including the 360) have been halted.
“We are pleased that the Mannheim Court found that Microsoft products infringe Motorola Mobility’s intellectual property,” Motorola Mobility said in a statement.
Microsoft, of course, is not taking the matter lying down. However, at this time they project they would be losing over $4 billion a year if they met Motorola Mobility’s specific conditions.
“This is one step in a long process, and we are confident that Motorola will eventually be held to its promise to make its standard essential patents available on fair and reasonable terms for the benefit of consumers who enjoy video on the web,” a Microsoft spokesman told the BBC.
In addition to the ban on the sale of Xbox 360 consoles, the ruling also forbids Windows 7 OS discs, as well as the electronic distribution of Internet Explorer and Windows Media player. Microsoft is currently appealing the ruling, which will not actually go into effect until the the appeal process is complete.
(Source: Develop)
