UK court rules against Motorola's "sync messages" patent >> Ars Technica

UK court rules against Motorola's "sync messages" patent >> Ars Technica

Can Motorola really rival Apple and Samsung? Photograph: Rick Wilking/Reuters

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UK court rules against Motorola's "sync messages" patent >> Ars Technica

On Friday, the High Court in London issued a ruling that said that one of Motorola's patents covering technology to synchronize messages across several devices should be invalidated. Originally, the patent covered the synching of messages across multiple pagers, but recently Motorola has used the patent in lawsuits against Apple and Microsoft for using similar message-syncing services in iCloud and on the Xbox, respectively.
The presiding Judge Richard Arnold declared Motorola's patent invalid and said it should be revoked because the patent (which has a priority date from 1995, but was issued in 2002) contained technology that "was obvious to experts in the field at the time."

Microsoft brought the case - Exchange and ActiveSync would have infringed. But it's stil in force in Germany. And in the US. (Though Motorola's patent value just fell a little.)