Matt Posted July 15, 2013 Report Posted July 15, 2013 SOFTWARE DEVELOPER Microsoft has sued US Customs for not stopping the import of Motorola smartphones following a US International Trade Commission (ITC) ruling to ban them in the States.Microsoft won an ITC ruling against Motorola with the court ruling the smartphone maker, which is owned by Google, infringed its patents. Now Microsoft has sued US Customs for not stopping Motorola smartphones from being imported into the US.The ITC imposed an import ban on Motorola's smartphones in May 2012 that runs until Microsoft's patents expire in 2018. However Microsoft's deputy general counsel David Howard said, "Customs has a clear responsibility to carry out ITC decisions, which are reached after a full trial and rigorous legal review. Here Customs repeatedly ignored its obligation and did so based on secret discussions."Microsoft alleges that Google and US Customs met in secret, with Microsoft not being privy to those meetings. It claims that Google tried to convince the ITC that the patent regarding synchronising does not apply when devices use its servers, an argument Microsoft claims the ITC rejected.Microsoft said in its court filing, "The only conclusion that can reasonably be drawn from [uS Customs and Border Patrol]'s pattern of conduct is that CBP will not enforce the commission's exclusion order absent a court order compelling it to do so."CBP has repeatedly allowed Motorola to evade that order based on secret presentations that CBP has refused to share with Microsoft."Microsoft and Google did not respond to requests for comment by press time.Sursa TheInquirer.net Quote
