A German court has ruled that Motorola Mobility infringed a Microsoft patent which allows long text messages to be divided into parts and then reassembled by receiving handsets.
It marks the first patent ruling against Google since it completed its takeover of Motorola.
Microsoft can now demand a German sales ban of Motorola products, although it signalled it would prefer a licence fee.
Google said it may appeal.
Google's chief executive had previously said that his firm bought Motorola and its patents "to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies".
Patent warsMicrosoft and Motorola have repeatedly clashed this month over a series of patent disputes.
Motorola won the right to order the recall and destruction of Xbox 360 games consoles and Windows 7 system software in Germany at the start of May.
A judge at the International Trade Commission (ITC) subsequently recommended there should also be a Xbox import and sales ban in the US.
However, another Seattle judge has ordered Motorola to hold off from enforcing any such bans until it ruled on a related complaint.
Microsoft won a separate patent victory against Motorola earlier this month when the ITC ruled that the handset maker's Android-based devices infringed an appointment scheduling patent owned by the Microsoft.
The Windows software maker has already forced other firms including Samsung, HTC and others to pay it for the use of its innovations within Google's system software.
Split textsThe latest ruling centres on a European patent named "communicating multi-part messages between cellular devices using a standardised interface".
It is designed to tackle the problem that SMS messages were designed to offer a maximum of 160 characters.
It describes a way of "fragmenting" a longer text into smaller parts and then "reassembling" it within an application on the receiver's handset.
Florian Mueller, a patent consultant who advises Microsoft, was at the ruling made at a court in Munich.
He blogged that Google could find it difficult to work around the problem if it refuses to pay a licence fee.
"Since this patent covers operating system-level functionality, the modifications 'Googlerola' would have to make to Android... would lead to significant complications," he wrote.
"Android apps that make use of Android's messaging layer would have to be rewritten, and some functionality that Android used to provide to app developers would have to be implemented by the affected applications themselves."
A statement from Google said: "We expect a written decision from the court on 1 June and upon review, will explore all options including appeal."
RCom slashes 3G tariff by 61% - Times of India
RCom's 3G services users will have to pay Rs 250 for high- speed internet usage up to 1 GB and thereafter have to pay 20 paisa for each MB data used, Anil Ambani Group firm said in a statement.
Earlier, the charges for 1GB was Rs 650 and 50 paisa for each MB used thereafter.
"We would like our customers to enjoy Reliance 3G network with the best broadband speeds for Internet access and uninterrupted data usage at the most competitive price point across all segments," RCom's Group head for Brand and Marketing Sanjay Behl said.
Earlier, Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular reduced their 3G rates to Rs 3 per MB data download.
For 2GB usage, RCom's 3G subscribers will have to pay Rs 450 instead of old rate of Rs 710.
This new plan of RCom will be available in 333 towns across 13 telecom circles where the company has started 3G services, the statement said.
The recent reduction in tariff comes in the wake of low 3G penetration across the country. According to global telecom industry body GSM Association, there were only 10 million 3G users till March compared to overall 900 million mobile subscriber base in the country.
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