Google Challenged by Microsoft in Motorola's Patent Lawsuit

Google Challenged by Microsoft in Motorola's Patent Lawsuit

Microsoft plans to name Google as a defendant in an ongoing legal feud against phone-maker, Motorola Mobility. This move marks the first time the two software giants have entered into direct legal conflict over Google's Android mobile operating system. 

According to the Reuters' report, Microsoft asserts that the Android OS infringes its software patents. However, the Redmond firm has been pursuing handset makers previously rather than Google itself for royalty payments. Most manufacturers have settled with Microsoft to date, barring the Google-owned Motorola, currently embroiled in a number of patent lawsuits against Microsoft in Germany and the States mainly over Motorola's use of scheduling software and Microsoft's use of certain wireless and video technology. 

In a recent court hearing in Munich, Microsoft said it plans to add Google as a defendant in a case involving a mapping feature on Motorola's phones which allegedly infringes one of Microsoft's patents. The patent in contention defines a method for mobile devices to obtain maps from one database and overlay it with resource information, such as the location of a restaurant for example, from a second database.

Source: Reuters via The Huffington Post