The ongoing battle between Microsoft and Motorola Mobility in a German court is all set to get hotter as the Redmond based software giant is gearing up to include Motorola’s parent company, Google as a defendant. The case is a patent infringement suit and Microsoft’s counsel said that the company will amend its lawsuit against Motorola and add Google to the list. This will be the first time that the two software giants will be going against each other in a courtroom in a patent infringement suit.
The lawsuit was filed by Microsoft in April this year and it deals with an alleged violation on Motorola’s part over patents that Microsoft owns. The patents relate to technology used to acquire data about local resources that is being used in Google Maps that runs on Motorola phones. Motorola has denied the infringement and said that its technology is free from any violations. With Microsoft getting ready to drag Google into the battle, there can be several courses of action. It is unclear whether Microsoft will serve the notice to Google directly or to Motorola’s attorney first and have it passed on. Depending on this decision, the trial date of March 7th might be postponed.
Google had acquired Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion earlier in 2012. One of the key motivations for the search engine giant to acquire Motorola was to get hold of the huge patent warehouse that was at Motorola’s disposal. Now it seems that the legal storehouse is what is causing a mess at Google. When approached for a statement about the whole issue, Google said that the company’s main focus is to develop innovative products to provide customers with high quality products. In addition it said that if it is being tested, it will fight back and will vigorously defend itself against any amends that Microsoft put in.
Earlier last month, a German court had ruled in favor of Microsoft over Motorola on a patent violation relating to software keyboards. In addition, Microsoft has also won a patent relating to file indexing technology that was allegedly copied by Motorola. This led to the granting of an injunction to ban sale of Motorola phones. History is on Microsoft’s side but if the case goes to trial, it will be up against a much more formidable opponent in Google.
