Thanks for posting the article. It will be interesting to see if Motorola signs a license, tries to work around the patent by changing their software, or removes the feature.
I don't know if this feature is unique to all Motorola phones or all Android phones? If this feature is part of Android then I assume Microsoft can now go after other Android phone manufactures. According to this guy who seems to have the best handle on ongoing IP litigation in the mobile space, it appears it is just Motorola, for now, but if I am not mistaken I think there are procedures for adding other manufacturers to the ban if Microsoft can prove that those manufactures also infringe the patent:
One thing to keep in mind: it seems that most of the successful mobile device IP cases I've seen so far involve software, which can be changed and updated on phones and mobile devices relatively easily, or design issues that can be relatively easy to change. This makes it relatively easy to work around the patent in question.
In IDCC's case, their patents on the "air interface" are probably much more difficult to work around, if not impossible to to work around, without redesigning the hardware. I.e., the phone or mobile device would have to be replaced. If the patents are truly essential to practicing the standard, then there is no workaround, by definition.
In their ETSI declarations, each company, I think, has to specify whether they believe each patent that they declare is essential to practicing the standard. I don't think anyone knows for sure until it is decided by the ITC or a court.
So, in IDCC's case, if their is no workaround and/or if the patents are truly "essential" to practicing the standard, then if IDCC wins at the ITC, the mobile device manufacturer will have to sign a license or stop selling their device in the US.
