Motorola is asking Microsoft to pay too much for patents related to video decoding and WLAN technologies built into several Microsoft products, including the Xbox, Windows Phone 7 and Windows 7, Microsoft alleges in the suit.

"In willful disregard of the commitments it made to IEEE and the ITU, Motorola has refused to extend to Microsoft a license consistent with Motorola's promises for any of Motorola's identified patents. Instead, Motorola is demanding royalty payments that are wholly disproportionate to the royalty rate that its patents should command," Microsoft wrote in the suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.

Motorola pledged during standards-setting processes at the IEEE and ITU to license its patents relevant to the WLAN and H.264 video technologies on a reasonable and non-discriminatory basis, Microsoft says.