Welcome!

SOA & WOA Authors: Stephen Pierzchala, Pat Romanski, Sebastian Kruk, Liz McMillan, Doug Bonderud

Related Topics: SOA & WOA, Java, Wireless, Search, Web 2.0, Open Web

SOA & WOA: Article

Google Sues BT for Patent Infringement

Google wants damages and an injunction preventing any further infringement of its four patents
By Maureen O'Gara
Article Rating:
February 15, 2013 09:15 AM EST
Reads:
 2,799

In an atypical move, Google has filed a patent infringement suit against BT's American operation and its VoIP services, charging them with treading on Google IP related to network communications.

FOSS Patents says the filing means that Google CEO Larry Page will never again be able to say, "We've never sued anyone over patents."

Google wants damages and an injunction preventing any further infringement of its four patents.

It's tit for tat. BT accused Google of infringing six of its mobile device patents in a 2011 suit that indicts Android, Gmail and Google Maps.

Google claims, "We have always seen litigation as a last resort, and we work hard to avoid lawsuits. But BT has brought several meritless patent claims against Google and our customers - and they've also been arming patent trolls. When faced with these kinds of actions, we will defend ourselves."

Google filed its complaint in federal court in Los Angeles as well as in a UK court.

The original BT complaint is still pending in Delaware.

A non-practicing entity called Suffolk Technologies LLC sued Google in Virginia using a patent that had belonged to BT. Google got three of the patents it's using against BT from IBM. The remaining patent used to belong to Fujitsu. Google also armed HTC with patents to sue Apple.

Published February 15, 2013 – Reads 2,799
Copyright © 2013 SYS-CON Media, Inc. — All Rights Reserved.
Syndicated stories and blog feeds, all rights reserved by the author.

More Stories By Maureen O'Gara

Maureen O'Gara the most read technology reporter for the past 20 years, is the Cloud Computing and Virtualization News Desk editor of SYS-CON Media. She is the publisher of famous "Billygrams" and the editor-in-chief of "Client/Server News" for more than a decade. One of the most respected technology reporters in the business, Maureen can be reached by email at maureen(at)sys-con.com or paperboy(at)g2news.com, and by phone at 516 759-7025. Twitter: @MaureenOGara

Comments (0)

Share your thoughts on this story.

Add your comment
You must be signed in to add a comment. Sign-in | Register

In accordance with our Comment Policy, we encourage comments that are on topic, relevant and to-the-point. We will remove comments that include profanity, personal attacks, racial slurs, threats of violence, or other inappropriate material that violates our Terms and Conditions, and will block users who make repeated violations. We ask all readers to expect diversity of opinion and to treat one another with dignity and respect.