On Friday, Microsoft sued Motorola for allegedly infringing nine of the software titan's patents in its Droid mobile handsets, which are powered by Android. Motorola makes the popular Droid line of smartphones. In July, Motorola held 20 percent share of the U.S. market for smartphones, the third-largest, following LG (21 percent), and Samsung (23 percent), according to analytics firm comScore.
"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 for infringement of nine Microsoft patents by Motorola’s Android-based smartphones," Horacio Gutierrez, Microsoft deputy general counsel, said in a blog post.
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.
Microsoft also launched a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission. The commission has the power to ban imports of products if they're found to be infringing.
Microsoft's suit requests treble damages, compensatory damages, and court costs, as well as a permanent injunction.
In my opinion, Motorola should have consodered the consecuences of its actions before launching such kind of product. I believe the court will meet all the four recuirements of Microsoft concearning the Motorola case.
Sources:
http://www.enterprisemobiletoday.com/news/article.php/3906471/Microsoft-Sues-Motorola-Over-Android-Smartphones.htm
http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20101002/tc_pcworld/microsoftsuesmotorolaoverandroidphones
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/10/microsoft-sues-motorola-over-android/
Why assume that Microsoft will win its suit against Motorola? After all, Microsoft is coming out with their own phone that will compete directly with the Droid.
ReplyDelete