German court rules it did not steal Vole's ideas
Mobile phone maker Motorola has been told that it did not steal a Microsoft ideas which enables applications to work on different handsets.
Acccording to Technology Spectator the patent in question relates to radio interfaces, formally known as "Method and radio interface layer comprising a set of application programming interfaces (APIs)". Microsoft alleged that the way Motorola's Android handsets accessed contacts infringed on the patent, but the regional court in Mannheim ruled that Motorola Mobility, part of Google, did not infringe a Microsoft patent.
Practically it means that software developers can avoid writing separate codes for each handset saving time and development costs. Mannheim has been dubbed the patent troll's Texas of Europe because court actions there have proved relatively cheap and quicker than in other areas.
Motorola is one of the few Android manufacturers not to have cut a licensing deal with Microsoft but things have not gone that well. This is the first Motorola's win. Microsoft has won three patent cases against Motorola in Germany and this has resulted in smartphones with the disputed technology are no longer available on the German market.
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Nick Farrell
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