Move over, Federal Circuit. There’s a new patent sheriff in town.
On September 28, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a 37-page opinion emphatically denying Motorola’s bid to enforce a German court’s patent infringement ruling against Microsoft Corp. The dispute between the technology giants, which Motorola says is worth $4 billion a year, turns on a contract that requires Motorola to grant reasonable and nondiscriminatory, or “RAND,” licenses for its standards-essential patents. That’s why the case was appealed to the Ninth Circuit, rather than the Federal Circuit, which typically resolves patent disputes on appeal.
