Click to Skip Ad
Closing in...

Microsoft wins German ban on Motorola phones

Updated Dec 19th, 2018 8:26PM EST
BGR

If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.

A German regional court on Thursday issued an injunction against newly-acquired Motorola Mobility for infringing one of Microsoft’s patents, according to FOSS Patents. The manufacturer is banned from selling its Android-powered devices that infringe Microsoft’s EP1304891 patent, which covers “communicating multi-part messages between cellular devices using a standardized interface.” The sales ban, for the time being, is subject to additional confirmation. If confirmed however, it is enforceable with a bond of $31.4 million. Patent expert Florian Mueller notes that since the patent covers “operating system-level functionality, the modifications ‘Googlorola’ would have to make to Android to work around this ruling would lead to significant complications.” Furthermore, apps that make use of Android’s messaging layer will apparently have to be completely rewritten.

Read

Dan joins the BGR team as the Android Editor, covering all things relating to Google’s premiere operating system. His work has appeared on Fox News, Fox Business and Yahoo News, among other publications. When he isn’t testing the latest devices or apps, he can be found enjoying the sights and sounds of New York City.