Judge recommends Xbox 360 ban over Motorola patents

An International Trade Commission judge ruled with a recommendation for the ban of Xbox 360 systems in the U.S.

The latest blow in Motorola Mobility's patent infringement case against Microsoft shouldn't come as too much of a surprise.

Last month, ITC judge David Shaw ruled in a preliminary hearing that the Xbox 360 was in violation of four Motorola patents regarding the H.264 video compression codec and wireless technologies found in both the console and its controllers.

Microsoft attempted to appeal the decision, citing that an Xbox 360 trade ban would result in a lack of market competition from consumers only having an option between Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii consoles.

However, Judge Shaw was not taken with the argument, favoring intellectual property rights over market diversity.

Not yet the end for Xbox 360

Even though the judge recommended a trade ban, the case is far from over.

The final verdict in the case now falls on the ITC's six-member board of commissioners, who have until August 23 to determine whether or not to enforce judge Shaw's recommendation.

Should the board of commissioners agree to the ban, the case will be presented to the Obama Administration with a 60-day review period during which the ruling can be signed or overturned.

In the meantime, no ban on Xbox 360 consoles is currently in place.

One patent case of many

While Motorola's case against Microsoft is on its way to the ITC board, Microsoft's own patent case against Motorola recently emerged from the ITC in Microsoft's favor.

Motorola was found to violate one of Microsoft's patents regarding the creation and scheduling of meeting requests, resulting in an unnamed selection of older devices receiving a trade ban.

The case is currently under its 60-day presidential review period.

The constant back and forth of patent lawsuits has become a worrying trend, with no clear victors when the dust settles.

Google's purchase of Motorola became official this week, allowing the search giant to inherit all of the joys of these recent patent disputes.