Microsoft has asked EU antitrust regulators to intervene in a patent dispute with Google and Motorola Mobility as it stepped up its battle against the Internet search giant.<\/p>\n
Microsoft complained that Motorola Mobility was trying to block its products by charging too much for using its patents in Microsoft products.<\/p>\n
The complaint came a week after the European Commission — the EU’s executive arm — and the U.S. Justice Department approved Google’s $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility.<\/p>\n
“Earlier today, Microsoft filed a formal competition law complaint with the European Commission against Motorola Mobility and Google,” Microsoft deputy general counsel Dave Heiner said in a blog post on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
“We have taken this step because Motorola is attempting to block sales of Windows PCs, our Xbox game console and other products,” he said.<\/p>\n
Heiner had initially named Motorola Mobility in the blog post but in an update said the complaint also included Google.<\/p>\n
Antoine Colombani, a spokesman for competition affairs at the EU Commission, said the regulator had received the complaint and will examine it.<\/p>\n
Apple has also complained to the EU Commission about Motorola Mobility’s patent charges, Motorola Mobility said in a regulatory filing last week.<\/p>\n
Heiner said Motorola had filed lawsuits in the United States and in Europe demanding Microsoft take its products off the market, or else remove their standards-based ability to play video and connect wirelessly.<\/p>\n
“The only basis for these actions is that these products implement industry standards on which Motorola claims patents,” he said. “Motorola is on a path to use standard essential patents to kill video on the web, and Google, as its new owner, does not seem to be willing to change course.”<\/p>\n
EXCESSIVE CHARGES?<\/p>\n
Microsoft said that Motorola asked it to pay a royalty of $22.50 for a laptop computer worth $1,000 for its use of 50 Motorola patents that apply to a video technology standard.<\/p>\n
It said that this compares to a 2 cent royalty charged by a group of 29 companies that offer the use of more than 2,300 patents for products following the same video standard.<\/p>\n
Google declined to comment. Motorola Mobility, which was not available for comment, makes cellphones and set-top boxes and does not compete in the market for game consoles and computer operating systems.<\/p>\n
EU regulators are also investigating whether Samsung Electronics has infringed EU antitrust rules in its patent disputes with Apple in courts across Europe.<\/p>\n
This was Microsoft’s second complaint with EU antitrust regulators involving Google. Last March, it accused the company of systematically thwarting rivals.<\/p>\n
Microsoft was the target of antitrust action for two decades in Europe and the United States. EU regulators imposed fines of more than a billion euros on the company for breaching EU antitrust rules.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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