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Microsoft Sues Motorola Over Android-Related Patent Infringement

Posted by Soulskill on from the no-license-for-you dept.

suraj.sun writes with this excerpt from Engadget: "Microsoft has hit up the ITC over a total of nine alleged patent infringements by Motorola in its Android devices, specifically relating to 'synchronizing email, calendars and contacts, scheduling meetings, and notifying applications of changes in signal strength and battery power.' This should be interesting — will it result in a quick cross-licensing agreement, or a protracted court battle spanning multiple years?" The ITC complaint was accompanied by a lawsuit in US District Court. Microsoft's Horacio Gutierrez explained the company's reasoning in a blog post.

7 of 199 comments (clear)

  1. Protection Racket by MozeeToby · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Wow, one story about how Microsoft says you should develop a Windows 7 phone so that you're safe from patent lawsuits immediately followed by a story about MS suing an Android developer for patent infringement. I think maybe someone in MS PR department needs to read up on the definition of subtlety.

  2. Re:Another Example by Penguinisto · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Plus it puts today's earlier story into some rather sharp perspective...

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    Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
  3. Enemy of My Enemy, etc... by Penguinisto · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There may not be much mobile love between Google and Apple, but I'm quite sure that neither one wants Microsoft to win anything in such a market.

    After all, if Microsoft wins this one, what's to stop them from contriving other overly-broad patents against Apple's iPhone at the first convenient moment?

    --
    Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    1. Re:Enemy of My Enemy, etc... by beakerMeep · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Another nitpick: those are estimates and they show great shakeup in the market. While Nokia was down 40% in profit, HTC was up 33%. Apple does indeed make a boatload of cash but Android is what is currently shaking up the market.

      Back on topic though I wonder why MS isn't suing themselves, since they seem so keen on paying Verizon money to put Bing on Android.

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      meep
  4. Interesting choice of company to attack by Frag-A-Muffin · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Hmm .. let's see. HTC, Samsung, LG and Moto make Android phones. HTC, Samsung, and LG also make WinMo (sorry ... WP7) phones as well.

    I can't imagine Moto's differentiating factor between all the other handset manufacturers are the only bits that MS has issue with. (Anyways, isn't it all just skinning on top of Google's Android?!)

    Soooo, this must be a "screw you" for no longer making WinMo phones?

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    AirSpeak - http://itunes.com/apps/AirSpeak
  5. Better to keep your mouth shut? by Qubit · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Let's think about this one. A big-shot at Microsoft tries to explain what's going on RE: a patent suit they're bringing against a competitor. Remember: it's a patent suit here.

    Gutierrez:

    People use smartphones for much more as well: they surf the web, play music and videos, and run apps.

    They do a lot of common activities, yes.

    Consumers expect more and more from their smartphones every day, making their phones resemble not so much a phone as a handheld computer.

    So really, their smart phones are acting like ordinary computers, right? So perhaps we could imagine their phones in that same problem space, as they are, according to Mr. Gutierrez, basically computers.

    Of course, for certain apps to run efficiently on handheld devices, they must be notified of changes in signal strength and battery power and the device must manage memory for storing data.

    Of course! I mean, I and the rest of us people with tech backgrounds totally agree with you! Just as in other domains like pagers, heart monitors, etc..., it would make perfect sense that for other small, mobile devices, things like managing power or signal strength would be relevant and important for the end user to know about.

    I mean, any one of us people well-versed in the field of technology would probably come up with something similar to what you did. I mean, "of course" we would!

    Given the wide range of functionality smartphones offer, they also need to be able to display relevant choices for users efficiently. Microsoft’s patented technologies tackle all of these challenges.

    Maybe Microsoft's patents read on some of this technology, but it sure sounds like you're trying to convince us exactly how necessary and obvious the content of these patents are in the context of computers, and I have to ask: Are you trying to win this case, or sink it?

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    coding is life /* the rest is */
  6. is ballmer being forced out of microsoft? by Dan667 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This smells like a desperation move of someone who tries to solve every problem with marketing. Buy our products because they are better? Nope, buy them out of fear. Stupid. My guess is ballmer is in the process of being forced out of microsoft.