The United States International Trade Commission (USITC)
ruled yesterday that Microsoft's Windows Phones infringe
on a pair of patents owned by InterDigital without the
latter's permission. After losing the first round in this court
battle, Microsoft could see its Lumia Windows Phone
handsets banned from import in the US, although this
decision is not final.
According to Judge Theodore Essex, Microsoft's handsets
infringe on a couple of wireless cellular patents owned by
InterDigital. InterDigital has a long history of court battles
against Lumia smartphones. Back in 2007, the Washington-
based patent licencee sued Nokia, but although InterDigital
lost the first ruling, it won the second round in the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, with the case being
sent back to the USITC. InterDigital has also filed for
lawsuits against other smartphone manufacturers such
as Huawei, Samsung, and ZTE.
Microsoft can and will challenge this decision, as this ruling
will need to be inspected by a full commission before an
import ban is instated on Lumia handsets. This second
inspection is expected to come to a conclusion later this
summer. If the full commission does not overthrow the
recent ruling, Microsoft will see an import ban being instated
on most of its Lumia smartphones.
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