Microsoft Files ITC Suit Against Motorola for Patent Infringement in their Android Devices
Ah just what today needed, news of yet another lawsuit flung in the direction Android and its manufacturing partners. This time it’s Microsoft, not at all new to the patent-mincing game, looking in Motorola’s direction for alleged infringement of nine patents in their Android devices. Microsoft is calling to task processes for “synchronizing email, calendars and contacts, scheduling meetings, and notifying applications of changes in signal strength and battery power,” claiming Moto’s handling of such procedures is in violation of MS’s intellectual property.
While there is a pretty good chance this one will reach an out-of-court settlement, it could also fall into the other column of long, drawn out legal battles. Oh well, guess that’s the route you need to take when you spend your time releasing things like the Microsoft Kin.
Microsoft Files Patent Infringement Action Against Motorola
REDMOND, Wash. – Oct. 1, 2010 – Microsoft Corp. today filed a patent infringement action against Motorola, Inc. and issued the following statement from Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel of Intellectual Property and Licensing:
“Microsoft filed an action today in the International Trade Commission and in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington against Motorola, Inc. for infringement of nine Microsoft patents by Motorola’s Android-based smartphones. The patents at issue relate to a range of functionality embodied in Motorola’s Android smartphone devices that are essential to the smartphone user experience, including synchronizing email, calendars and contacts, scheduling meetings, and notifying applications of changes in signal strength and battery power.
We have a responsibility to our customers, partners, and shareholders to safeguard the billions of dollars we invest each year in bringing innovative software products and services to market. Motorola needs to stop its infringement of our patented inventions in its Android smartphones.”