What Does the Microsoft-Motorola Mobility Patent Case Mean for BlackBerry?

Microsoft and Google’s Motorola Mobility division will square off in court in a legal battle over standards-essential patents and their royalty rates. There’s a lot at stake in the case — not just for Microsoft and Google, but for the broader industry and a few other key players, one in particular: BlackBerry.

At issue in the case is Microsoft’s allegation that Google/Motorola Mobility refused to license some of its standards-essential patents on FRAND (fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory) terms in breach of its obligation to do so. Earlier this year, a federal court in Seattle ruled that Motorola — which had been demanding in excess of $4 billion from Microsoft for its use of a portfolio of patents related to the H.264 video standard and the 802.11 wireless standard — was instead entitled to just $1.8 million a year. Now a jury will determine whether Google and its Motorola Mobility division violated their FRAND obligations by seeking unreasonable royalties from Microsoft and threatening to seek an injunction if they weren’t paid.