ITC affirms ruling saying Xbox 360 doesn't infringe Motorola patents

The Xbox 360 doesn't infringe on any Motorola patents, the International Trade Commission confirmed yesterday, ending a years-long legal battle with a final decision in Microsoft's favor, reports Reuters.

Motorola first filed a complaint in December 2010, charging that the Xbox 360 violated federal tariff laws because it infringed on five of the company's patents related to H.264 video encoding and wireless communication standards. An ITC administrative law judge issued a preliminary ruling in April 2012 agreeing with Motorola on four of the patents.

Microsoft and Motorola subsequently filed motions to terminate various patent claims in the investigation, and the ITC determined other claims to be invalid, leaving only one — U.S. patent No. 6,069,896, which covers peer-to-peer wireless networks — at issue in the case. In March, an ITC judge ruled that Microsoft did not violate the '896 patent in the Xbox 360. The ITC decided yesterday not to review the ruling, which affirms its decision as final in the case.

The case had potentially significant ramifications for Microsoft: Because Motorola alleged that the Xbox 360 violated tariff laws, rulings in Motorola's favor could have affected Microsoft's ability to import the console in countries such as the U.S. and Germany. You can check out the ITC's final judgment, along with a history of the case, in the PDF at the source link below.