Motorola offers to settle with Microsoft over patent infringements

In the face of a possible import ban from the ITC, Motorola Mobility is seeking to end its patent dispute with Microsoft. Google’s recently-acquired mobile division has offered to pay Redmond a 33-cent tariff on each phone that uses Microsoft’s ActiveSync software, while asking for a 50 cent royalty on all Windows products that use H.264 video compression.

The 33-cent figure is actually what the ITC is currently imposing before the exclusion order becomes final, so it’s not exactly the most generous of offers from Motorola — it seems the company is simply attempting to cut its losses. However, the revised H.264 offer is a significant drop on their previous request of 2.25 percent on each infringing Windows product (a $1,000 laptop would have garnered $22.25, for example), though Motorola is still asking that amount for the Xbox 360.

While Motorola told Bloomberg that it expects a response within two weeks, it doesn’t look like Microsoft will be too receptive. Deputy general counsel for IP Horatio Gutierrez has already dismissed Motorola’s offer as unrealistic, saying in a statement that “While we welcome any good faith settlement effort, it’s hard to apply that label to a demand that Microsoft pay royalties to Google far in excess of market rates, that refuses to license all the Microsoft patents infringed by Motorola.”