The ruling is also a win for companies like Apple and Intel, which have campaigned to lower the amount of money they pay for essential technologies that let mobile phones download video, access Wi-Fi or accept calls no matter the manufacturer.
Microsoft won an appeals-court ruling that may lower the rates many electronics makers pay to license technology considered standard in smartphones and computers.
An appeals court in San Francisco on Thursday upheld a $14.5 million jury verdict against Google as punishment for unfairly demanding what Microsoft said was billions of dollars for use of patents covering Wi-Fi and video downloads.