US ITC declines to block Lumia imports in the country

Aug 31, 2015 05:01 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft is fighting to succeed in the mobile industry on multiple fronts these days, and in addition to a major overhaul of the phone lineup that's projected to happen in approximately one month, the company also has to win lawsuits that might have an impact on its strategy and the millions of dollars it's investing in it.

The past week, Redmond finally won a lawsuit against InterDigital, a company that claimed that Microsoft infringed two of its wireless patents and that asked the judge to impose an import ban on all devices using the said technologies.

Basically, this requirement targeted all Microsoft's Windows Phone devices, as the patents in question refer to 3G technology that's being used to optimize battery consumption when connected to a mobile network.

Long-time lawsuit against Nokia

The lawsuit was started by InterDigital in 2007 against Nokia, but since Microsoft purchased the Finnish mobile phone manufacturer last year, the Wilmington, Delaware-based company decided to go after the software giant to get its money back.

In April, however, a US trade judge ruled in favor of InterDigital, saying that Microsoft indeed violated its patents and recommended and import ban.

The two companies, however, are now involved in a different lawsuit, this time started by the Redmond-based firm, which claims that InterDigital is actually violating US antitrust laws because it does not agree with offering licenses on reasonable terms. A ruling in this case is expected in late 2015 or early 2016.

While Microsoft was happy with the decision and said it was “grateful the Commission stopped InterDigital from trying to block our products,” InterDigital didn't seem to care that much, explaining that it doesn't really matter the judge declined the Lumia imports ban “given the decline of the Nokia mobile device business under Microsoft’s control and its limited market position.”

Ouch, that hurts.