Xbox 360 4GB & 250GB Sales Ban Moves Closer

A patent dispute started by Motorola in November 2010 against Microsoft has moved a step closer to banning Xbox 360 4GB & 250GB models in the USA, after administrative law judge David Shaw ruled in favour of Motorola over patents relating to secure wireless communication and transmission of video content between controller devices and game consoles. As the consoles are not made in America, the judge has made an initial recommendation that the International Trade Commission (ITC) should ban their import.

In its defence, Microsoft said that banning Xbox 360 sales would be against the public interest. However, Shaw rejected that arguement, finding that there is a greater public interest in enforcing intellectual property rights over any economic impact for consumers. Also, Microsoft had not demonstrated to him that the PlayStation 3 and Wii consoles wouldn’t be able to meet demand, even though that would leave customers with only two options to choose from.

Note that a public version of Shaw’s initial ruling has been delayed until all the interesting proprietary bits that we’d all like to see are redacted. Shame.