Judge Says Xbox Sales Should Be Banned in US

The patent wars heated up yesterday when the judge overseeing the skirmish between Motorola and Microsoft sided with Motorola and said that Microsoft was guilty of infringing on four of the other company’s patents in its Xbox 360 console, as Courthouse News reports.

Judge David Shaw recommended that sales of the console be immediately banned in the US and that Microsoft should post a bond equal to 7 percent of unsold consoles. Microsoft disagrees with that figure, saying that they should be paying the value of the license, which would bring it to about 2 percent. Motorola, meanwhile, were rubbing their hands together and doing heel clicks in the air while suggesting that Microsoft should instead pay 100 percent of the value of unsold Xboxes.

The case comes from the fact that the Xbox 360′s technology could be used to replace Motorola’s device for the set-top transmissions of their Droid X and Droid 2 devices. Microsoft argues that Motorola has yet to display any evidence or proof that someone out there actually bought a video game console to transmit signals from their Motorola phones to their TV. To be fair, Motorola would have a hard time doing that since their set top boxes are available for a fraction of the price of a new Xbox 360.

Hilariously, Microsoft’s big argument against the decision to ban Xbox 360 sales was that it would leave consumers with only two consoles left to choose from. The judge was positive that Nintendo and Sony would be more than able to meet the extra demand.

So thanks, all you folks out there who paid $200+ to stream from your Droid to your TV. You’ve hurt Microsoft. Maybe. Probably. Or maybe Motorola’s just continuing the patent war of the tech industry where everyone sues each other for money over ridiculous potential applications of patents.