Google's Motorola Mobility unit lost an appeals court bid to invalidate a Microsoft patent used to win a ban on U.S. imports on some mobile phones. According to a United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit opinion, Motorola Mobility failed to prove the technology covered by Microsoft?s patent was previously used in Apple?s failed Newton personal digital assistant of the 1990s. Motorola Mobility conceded it infringed the patent, and its arguments were based on the fact that the invention wasn't new.

The patent covers a way mobile devices synchronize calendars with computers.