[JURIST] US District Judge James Robart on Thursday restricted the patent lawsuit by Google subsidiary Motorola Mobility against Microsoft [corporate websites]. The judge ruled [Reuters report] that certain parts of three different Motorola patents were not valid. Motorola has sought $4 billion for alleged violations of its wireless and video patents by Microsoft. Microsoft maintains that Motorola is only entitled to approximately $1 million per year. Google acquired Motorola for $12.5 billion, but Microsoft contends that Motorola should only receive a small portion of the royalties for its product. Both Microsoft and Apple [corporate website] have been engaged in lawsuits against Google and its partner companies, such as Samsung [corporate website].

Earlier this week, the High Court of Australia unanimously ruled [JURIST report] that Google did not engage in misleading or deceptive conduct in violation of Section 52 of the Trade Practices Act of 1974 [text, PDF]. Google is also involved in several different patent disputes with multiple other companies around the world. Last month Google subsidiary Motorola Mobility filled a motion [JURIST report] with the International Trade Commission to drop two key patents from it case against Microsoft. The claim alleged that Microsoft infringed on Motorola Mobility’s patents related to technology used in the Xbox. The withdrawal of the claim was required in an agreement Google made with the Federal Trade Commission. In December, the ITC ruled [JURIST report] for Apple in a patent dispute with Google.