Windows 7 OS, Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player also banned; Xboxes may be recalled and destroyed
An extraordinary ruling declared today in a Mannheim court has resulted in a ban on selling Xbox 360 consoles throughout Germany.
Microsoft will no longer be able to distribute the console to retailers, and may be forced to recall systems sitting on shop shelves and have them destroyed.
The ruling will not come into effect until Microsoft’s appeal process has concluded.
Also banned is Windows 7 OS discs, as well as the electronic distribution of Internet Explorer and Windows Media player.
The shock ruling is due to Motorola Mobility, a phones company which Google is in the process of acquiring, today being granted an injunction against the distribution of key Microsoft products in Germany.
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Motorola Mobility, which last year posted an annual loss of $145 million, was successful in convincing the court that Microsoft had infringed two patents central to the H.264 video coding and playback.
"We are pleased that the Mannheim Court found that Microsoft products infringe Motorola Mobility's intellectual property,” Motorola Mobility said in a statement.
The company said it was still keen on resolving the matter, but Microsoft believes that meeting all demands would cost it about $4 billion each year.
"This is one step in a long process, and we are confident that Motorola will eventually be held to its promise to make its standard essential patents available on fair and reasonable terms for the benefit of consumers who enjoy video on the web," a Microsoft spokesman told the BBC.
Good job germany, fuck yourself over more why not
Impressed.
Comeon. Great way to set a industri standard only to completly screw it over with patents. Great job motorola and germany, digg your bloody graves.
The title "Xbox 360 sales forbidden across Germany" is a little misleading as the ban will NOT come into force until after MS's appeal and it is highly likely that MS will win that appeal as Motorola will be seen as abusing the FRAN licensing on the standards patents.
Ditto the above. 'Shock' title debunked by own little sentence "The ruling will not come into effect until Microsoft’s appeal process has concluded.". Right, that's that out of the way, back to more words liked 'banned' etc.
you don't start a patent warfare (M$)
and then expect that no one is going to retaliate against you.
Go Googerola!, go go go!!
So Germany are restricted to Macintosh, Linux and other open-source technologies? Not a bad thing imo.
So...how is Macintosh, a product of the world's leading member of the war on intellectual property and king of all things price inflated, going to find a way to lower its price to a level reasonable for regular people?
No way this decision isn't going to be overruled.
The only people who benefit from software patients are lawyers.
and I heard the bricks that were shat.. Fucking ridiculous
