A United States judge for the International Trade Commission, David Shaw, recently ruled against Microsoft in a case of patent infringement which resulted in his suggestion of a  US sales ban of the Xbox 360. Motorola was claiming that Microsoft fringed upon wireless device patents that were placed inside their 4GB and 250GB Xbox 360 slim hardware.

Now, Motorola has recently offered a settlement proposal to Microsoft, that was quickly rejected by the company. Motorola proposed that they would pay Microsoft 33 cents for every Android sold, but Microsoft would be required to pay Motorola 2.25% of each Xbox sold, and 50 cents for each copy of windows. Microsoft claims that their reasons for rejecting the settlement proposal is the that the royalty rate requested drastically exceeds the market rates and would be an unfair set of terms.

The International Trade Commission has already recommended an import ban on all Android devices with ActiveSync and Xbox 360 consoles until the case comes to an agreement or ruling. Surely, negotiations will continue until both sides can agree on “fair” terms. Yet, if settlement rejections become a continued trend, then the ITC will present it’s case to the White House, leaving President Obama with the weight of the Xbox 360 gaming world on his shoulders.

It’s understandable that Shaw is protecting patent laws and holding Microsoft accountable for their patent infringement, yet one can’t help but wonder why Microsoft won’t settle with any of the proposals?

I love my Xbox. I kiss it daily, but I don’t believe that if you infringe upon a patent you necessarily should be discussing what is fair or unfair.

Should the Xbox be banned from further sale? Maybe, Microsoft isn’t even worried because the Xbox 720 is their ace in the hole, only time will tell. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Source: IGN

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