US Judge Rules That Motorola’s Patents Aren’t Worth $4 Billion, But Around $1.8 Million Instead

Earlier this year we reported that Motorola’s complaint against Microsoft for alleged patent infringement could see Motorola demanding up to $4 billion in royalties from Microsoft which we can all agree upon is no small amount. Unfortunately for Motorola, it looks like even if they were to win the legal battle against Microsoft, they might not be able to get $4 billion as the judge presiding over the legal battle has determined that the value of Motorola’s patents were extremely overvalued and that they are in reality worth about $1.8 million in royalties every year.

Of course when it comes to settlements, negotiations are to be expected, although in this case Motorola’s $4 billion did seem somewhat outrageous, compared to Microsoft’s estimation of $1.2 million, which admittedly was closer to what the judge had valued Motorola’s potential royalties to be worth on an annual basis. We expect that Motorola can’t be too happy about this, and unsurprisingly Microsoft seems to be and in a statement released by Microsoft’s corporate vice president and deputy general counsel, David Howard, “This decision is good for consumers because it ensures patented technology committed to standards remains affordable for everyone.”

Tyler Lee
Categories: General
Tags: Legal, Microsoft, Motorola