ITC import ban on Motorola Android devices kicks in tomorrow, company promises availability in US

As noted in a report from Ars Technica, the ITC’s import ban on Motorola Android devices is set to kick in tomorrow. It covers 18 Motorola products infringing patents related to Microsoft’s Exchange Active Sync technology. Motorola, of course, has the option to pay Microsoft to license the patent, as it has in the past, but the company told Ars in a statement that it plans to continue selling its flagship devices in the U.S. following tomorrow’s ban:

“In view of the ITC exclusion order which becomes effective Wednesday with respect to the single ActiveSync patent upheld in Microsoft’s ITC-744 proceeding, Motorola has taken proactive measures to ensure that our industry leading smartphones remain available to consumers in the US,” Motorola said. “We respect the value of intellectual property and expect other companies to do the same.”

The following Motorola devices are covered by the ITC ruling: the Motorola Atrix, Backflip, Bravo, Charm, Cliq, Cliq 2, Cliq XT, Defy, Devour, Droid 2, Droid 2 Global, Droid Pro, Droid X, Droid X2, Flipout, Flipside, Spice, and Xoom.

Ars also received a statement from Microsoft’s Deputy General Counsel David Howard:

“Microsoft brought this case only after Motorola stopped licensing our intellectual property but continued to use our inventions in its products…It’s unfortunate we’ve been forced to pursue legal action, but the solution for Motorola remains licensing our intellectual property at market rates as most other Android manufacturers have already done.”

There are also other cases between the two companies currently ongoing, such as Motorola notably attempting to get an import ban on the Xbox 360 in another patent dispute.