would you like windows 7 or an xbox?

[chef]

do you live in Germany?

well then the answer's no.

Motorola wins Germany sales ban over patent infringement

[Sysman]

A bit more detail

The injunction will prevent the distribution of Windows 7, Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player and the Xbox 360. Motorola is even going as far as requesting the infringing products be recalled from their retail outlets and destroyed.

and some background

P.S. Although I didn't buy Windows in Germany, my copies were manufactured there. Can I get my money back?

[d000hg]

Blimey. Those German courts don't muck about... was it the Galaxy tablet that got blocked too? Why is Germany so much quicker to make such big moves than other countries... blocking Windows is a massive step to take?

I've dealt with H264 before, I thought MS co-owned the patent for it along with a consortium of other big names?

[Sysman]

Blimey. Those German courts don't muck about... was it the Galaxy tablet that got blocked too? Why is Germany so much quicker to make such big moves than other countries... blocking Windows is a massive step to take?

Didn't the EU manage to get Media Player unbundled a couple of years back?

My copies of Windows that bear the label "Manufactured in Germany" certainly have the browser choice thingy.

[d000hg]

I think the browser choice thing is EU-wide... but they were only forced to add this as an option, not suddenly told they couldn't sell Windows until they modified it.

[Sysman]

But Motorola can't enforce the ban

Motorola can't enforce the injunction right away, however. Microsoft will appeal the ruling, and a US judge recently ruled that any injunction in Germany can't take effect until the related US court case is settled.

I'd like to see what the German courts think of that one

[darmstadt]

But Motorola can't enforce the ban



I'd like to see what the German courts think of that one

I believe that has happened before and the German courts just told the septics to eff off (unlike UK courts who'll bend over backwards to honour the 'special relationship')

[Sysman]

I believe that has happened before and the German courts just told the septics to eff off (unlike UK courts who'll bend over backwards to honour the 'special relationship')

Aye, darmstadt. I remember discussing the German version of the Windows 98 EULA with colleagues and they reckoned that all that stuff in ENGLISH BLOCK CAPITALS would probably get pretty short shrift if it landed up in a German speaking court.

I believe it was a German guy who was the first to get his money back for Windows that he didn't want, bundled in with a PC he bought.

It's possibly down to his efforts that nowadays I can buy a box without any OS installed.

[VectraMan]

I've dealt with H264 before, I thought MS co-owned the patent for it along with a consortium of other big names?

Yep, I'm sure they were part of the consortium. Which is why IE, Chrome and Safari were all able to support H264 in HTML5 video tags, just leaving Firefox wining "it's not fair!!!".