Xbox 360 to be banned in US over Motorola patent case?

[Sier_Pinski]

http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/05/22/46716.htm

The International Trade Commission should ban import of some Microsoft Xbox gaming consoles into the United States because they infringe on Motorola patents, an administrative law judge said.
The recommendation is limited to the 4GB and 250GB versions of the Xbox 360 S console.
Judge David Shaw also recommended that the commission prevent sale of the consoles with a cease-and-desist order, and that Microsoft post a bond equal to 7 percent of the declared value of unsold Xbox inventory already in the country.

Considering that the console has already been banned in Germany, and that patent abuse is more common in the States, this ban may actually have a chance of occurring. PS3 owner here hoping it doesn't.

 

[TJ13]

Another Failbox?
Just gives another reason to bump up xbox's price.

 

[Gdog96]

^ good point, but I kinda loled abit.

 

[sumbrownkid]

Microsoft is just either gonna pay the fees of the burned owners of the patents, or hire some damn good lawyers and win somehow.

Xbox isn't going away anytime soon. Besides Sony had a lot of legal troubles in the patent side of things, but yet they are still bringing them over in droves.

 

[E28]

I'm fed up of these 🤬 lawsuits over patents. At first it was just a few companies, but now it seems like everyone is focusing on searching for patents that might have been infringed, instead of just making new products...

 

[Korza]

I'm fed up of these 🤬 lawsuits over patents. At first it was just a few companies, but now it seems like everyone is focusing on searching for patents that might have been infringed, instead of just making new products...

It's all because of money...

 

[Slash]

I'm a PS3 guy but damn.

 

[VTiRoj]

It's all because of money...

It's always because of money. Motorola don't care that the Xbox 360 is using one of their patents, they just want Microsoft to pay them off.

 

[TomBrady]

It's always because of money. Motorola don't care that the Xbox 360 is using one of their patents, they just want Microsoft to pay them off.

Well it's about money, but not just about getting a pay off. They're not going to let a company get away with not paying them like they should have in the first place. Motorola's not just suing them for a pay off, they're suing them for the principle of it. Microsoft is such a moronic company and this is another example. They don't do hardly any QA testing, the consumer does that for them when their products fail and consumers find out the hard way that there are problems with Windows OS's or their other products (xbox), and they steal patents like a bunch of amateur morons. It's microsoft, how can you expect any less from them? This is no surpise.

 

[Moglet]

They don't do hardly any QA testing, the consumer does that for them when their products fail and consumers find out the hard way that there are problems with Windows OS's or their other products (xbox),

Lack of QA? The same can be said for Sony, then; PSN is abysmal and has clearly never been properly tested. Major hack last year, anyone?

At least Microsoft has the decency to extend everyone's warranty. As for Windows, Windows 7 is actually a very good operating system with very few faults. It's torn me away from MacOS.

 

[Ddrizle]

PSN, Xbox Live and many other infrastructures were hacked. Decent of Microsoft to extend 360 warranties after denying any issues with them in the beginning, decent indeed.

Microsoft will eventually pay out. Unfortunate they and many other companies are going through this though, but this is how business is at times.

 

[CMvan46]

Lack of QA? The same can be said for Sony, then; PSN is abysmal and has clearly never been properly tested. Major hack last year, anyone?
.

Anything can be hacked with enough time. Would you also like to criticize the FBI, the countless government websites or businesses that have had the same thing done?

http://m.guardian.co.uk/technology/...fbi-scotland-yard?cat=technology&type=article

Microsoft is a terribly run company by, as Forbes has rated him, the worst CEO on the planet. He missed the smartphone boat on what should have been a homerun because he thought it would lack interest... A simple survey would have proved otherwise. Now the have the laughable Window's Phone which has only a tiny amount of market share. They released what must be the least reliable gaming console of all time, their operating systems release completely unpolished and buggy for long stretches of time.... I could go on. Oh and not to mention what about the issue of people having Fifa DLC bought for their accounts without owning the game?

 

[II-zOoLoGy-II]

Lol. This is not going to happen.

It's an election year for Pete's sake.

 

[Tesla]

And the gaming industry is related to political elections... how?

 

[II-zOoLoGy-II]

And the gaming industry is related to political elections... how?

Barrack Obama. The President who banned the Microsoft XBOX from being sold in the US.


Ya.... That will go over REALLY well with voters.

Common sense isn't a common virtue I guess.

"Should ITC commissioners agree with Shaw's recommendation, President Barack Obama and advisors will have 60 days to review the decision, the site reports. After this time, whatever is decided can be appealed."

Again, NOT gonna happen. It IS an election year.

 

[CMvan46]

Now I'm not American but I hope to God that people don't vote based on that. That would be laughable, there are so many things that should be a higher priority as a voter than if you think it was a President who just decided lets ban the Xbox!

If you want to insult people with the common sense comment maybe take a look at your own priorities. I sure hope you don't vote yet. I usually look for things like their stance on healthcare, education, budget planning, and strategies to get us out of recession. I couldn't give a crap if the President made the final decision on an Xbox being banned in the US.

I wonder what percentage of voting Americans would even know about the ban let alone care.

 

[Moglet]

Anything can be hacked with enough time. Would you also like to criticize the FBI, the countless government websites or businesses that have had the same thing done?

Not only was the first one apparently very easy to do, but this happened a few months later:

"SonyPictures.com was owned by a very simple SQL injection, one of the most primitive and common vulnerabilities, as we should all know by now.

"From a single injection, we accessed EVERYTHING. Why do you put such faith in a company that allows itself to become open to these simple attacks?"

Microsoft is a terribly run company

Last year it was worth $224.01 billion. Terribly run companies do not make that kind of money.

by, as Forbes has rated him, the worst CEO on the planet. He missed the smartphone boat on what should have been a homerun because he thought it would lack interest..

A simple survey would have proved otherwise. Now the have the laughable Window's Phone which has only a tiny amount of market share..

That's because the Windows phone is bloody awful and yes it did come too late. They simply can't compete in that market. The gaming market, however, is an entirely different ball game.

They released what must be the least reliable gaming console of all time

It is the most unreliable, but of those breakdowns only 11.7% were failures other than the RROD which itself was covered by an extended warranty. It's also worth mentioning that from surveys of gamers the stats show that the average daily play time of a 360 is higher than the PS3 and Wii.

Their operating systems release completely unpolished and buggy for long stretches of time....

As a long time MacOS user I recently made the switch to Windows 7. Besides a few problems at startup (my own fault) it's been completely faultless and the OS is very very user friendly and intuitive. You have to remember that Windows has a huge user base so there's always going to be a lot of problems reported. Especially in comparison with Linux, MacOS etc.

Oh and not to mention what about the issue of people having Fifa DLC bought for their accounts without owning the game?

As you said, if someone wants to hack something badly enough they will do it. But that's still nothing compared to having 77 million customers' data stolen in one swoop.

 

[lemansfanatic]

I wouldn't vote for Obama even if he came over to my house to give me a free Xbox 360. Although... I would love to play Halo with him, but only so I could trash talk him when I used the butt of my needler to smack his corpse around a little

 

[II-zOoLoGy-II]

Now I'm not American but I hope to God that people don't vote based on that. That would be laughable, there are so many things that should be a higher priority as a voter than if you think it was a President who just decided lets ban the Xbox!

If you want to insult people with the common sense comment maybe take a look at your own priorities. I sure hope you don't vote yet. I usually look for things like their stance on healthcare, education, budget planning, and strategies to get us out of recession. I couldn't give a crap if the President made the final decision on an Xbox being banned in the US.

I wonder what percentage of voting Americans would even know about the ban let alone care.

I am 27 and have taken more political science classes than I care to admit.

Funny you mention "strategies to get us out of recession" while not considering the implications on the US / World Economy between the initial ban on this console and further enforcement of equally ridiculous patent cases. I suggest you read up on exactly what the patent in question is.

Considering the President has been under fire, 'anti-business,' since he took office for many of his policies... signing off on the ban of a Microsoft product would pretty much put a nail in his coffin for the re-election. Fox News would have a story running about it every half hour on the hour. And this takes me back to my initial point. Which you have failed to grasp.

Furthermore, Motorola and the Microsoft XBOX are in no way competing, so how does a sales ban in the US make any type of sense from a logical point of view?

Common sense is not a common virtue.

 

[sumbrownkid]

I seriously doubt this Xbox fiasco is gonna hurt Obama's chances at a second reelection...

 

[Roger the Horse]

If Obama didn't get re-elected just because of some legal issues with the XBox 360 causing certain models of it to become unavailable in the US I would strongly suggest that every other country in the world mounted an invasion on the country, took it over, and fixed it's education system.

 

[II-zOoLoGy-II]

If Obama didn't get re-elected just because of some legal issues with the XBox 360 causing certain models of it to become unavailable in the US I would strongly suggest that every other country in the world mounted an invasion on the country, took it over, and fixed it's education system.

No one said he wouldn't get re-elected if the XBOX was banned. It would become one of many policies the general public would take into consideration when voting.

Banning the number one selling entertainment console is not good for the economy. With a ruling on this patent resulting in a national ban there would be grounds for equally ridiculous patent lawsuits between non-competing businesses. That is the point. If you don't understand that then maybe you need to take a look at your own education.

And lucky for us all you are in no authoritative position in any country in the world.

Regardless, it will never happen which was my original point.

 

[Roger the Horse]

No one said he wouldn't get re-elected if the XBOX was banned. It would become one of many policies the general public would take into consideration when voting.

Banning the number one selling entertainment console is not good for the economy. That is the point. If you don't understand that then maybe you need to take a look at your own education.

And lucky for us all you are in no authoritative position in any country in the world.

The way people were talking they were acting as if every voter in the US was not going to vote for Obama based off some minor little legal quarrel. That is of course untrue, they're not going to vote for Obama because they for some strange reason would prefer to vote for the worst of a bad bunch. (pair)

My statement was supposed to be a joke, if people in a country were to take such a minor issue so seriously then something would clearly be wrong with the countries education system.

 

[BobbyBRAKEaNek]

There is something wrong with education here.

A infringement on a patent is still an infringement and should be dealt with.

 

[MSTER232]

i'm a ps3 guy but damn.

+1

 

[Ddrizle]

Microsoft has rejected Motorola's latest settlement plan.

Perhaps this will cause Microsoft to release their next system earlier than they'd planned...or perhaps not.

 

[USARMYCOMBATVET]

No, but seriously, I hope not.

 

[phillgt2002]

Xbox to Obama not getting elected..... Lol

 

[II-zOoLoGy-II]

I don't see how that is hard to grasp.

"Motorola had previously committed to licensing the video codec standard on reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND) terms, and the company's decision to file a USITC patent complaint reneges on that promise, Intel wrote in its Friday filing with the commission.
"Motorola's contractual promises to accept compensation from all users of the standards leave no room for barring parties willing and able to pay RAND royalties from selling standard-compliant products," Intel's lawyers wrote.
An import ban would be "detrimental" to IBM, its lawyers wrote. Some of the Xbox's parts are manufactured by IBM in the U.S., IBM's lawyers wrote. "IBM will therefore suffer commercial harm" if the Xbox cannot be imported, they added.
An Xbox import ban would harm many companies and consumers, the Entertainment Software Association wrote in Friday comments to the USITC.
"The video game industry is a significant contributor to the U.S. economy and job growth, and reaches American consumers of all walks of life," the trade group's lawyers wrote. "An exclusion order banning the importation of Xbox gaming consoles into the U.S. would harm not only Microsoft, but a variety of other parties across the gaming ecosystem, including most importantly consumers and game publishers."

http://www.fosspatents.com/2012/06/ibm-activision-blizzard-latest.html

So, loss of jobs and loss of sales of products from multiple US companies. This WILL NOT effect just Microsoft....

Activision, Apple, Blizzard, IBM, the Entertainment Software Association, the Business Software Alliance, the FTC, HP, Nokia, Intel, Verizon, Retail Industry Leaders Association (I think that's it?) have all issued statements / letters citing public interest, specifically economically and technological standards across platforms.

So, with this in mind, the state of the economy, and previous policies how is it hard to grasp that a ban on the XBOX 360 initiated by Google (Motorola) would be bad for the economy and therefore the Presidential election?

"OMG, like what do video gamez haf to do with da election?"

I'm done arguing this point to those who are void of critical thinking skills.

 

[USARMYCOMBATVET]

I don't see how that is hard to grasp.

A vote for Microsoft is a vote for 'Merica. AMARIGHT? I agree though. It's good to see their sales are up. I'd hate to see any part of the video game industry fall out at this point, let alone any US company.

EDIT: Does anyone know if this lawsuit is related in any way to the recent acquisition by Google of Motorola Mobility?