[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit [official website] on Thursday held [opinion, PDF] that the International Trade Commission (ITC) [official website] erred in finding that Motorola Mobility, a branch of Google did not infringe a Microsoft [corporate websites] graphical interface patent. Microsoft originally filed a complaint in 2010 with the ITC against Motorola. Microsoft alleged that Motorola had violated section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, 19 USC § 1337 [text], by importing mobile phones and tablets that infringe a number of Microsoft’s patents. The ruling overturns 133 patent non-infringement judgment however, Motorola Mobility no longer uses any of the patented technology involved in the decision. The court also upheld the ITC’s ruling that Google had not infringed on three other Microsoft patents.

In July Microsoft filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] against US Customs [official website] officials accusing them of refusing to follow an import ban issued in May 2012 against Google by the ITC regarding the above mentioned Motorola Mobility patent infringment. In February US District Court Judge James Robart restricted [JURIST report] the patent lawsuit by Motorola Mobility against Microsoft, holding that certain parts of three different Motorola patents were not valid. In January Motorola Mobility filed a motion [JURIST report] with the ITC 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 [official website].