The largest software maker in the world, Microsoft, has begun to argue its trade case in the US concerning the Android based smartphones manufactured by Motorola Mobility, which it alleges use technologies which have been derived from the inventions of Microsoft.
Motorola was accused by Microsoft of having infringed upon seven of its patented technologies in the hearing of a trial which started today before the International Trade Commission in Washington. Microsoft asked the commission to immediately stop the imports of several of Motorola’s smartphone handsets. The ITC has enough power and jurisdiction to ban those products from being imported which violate patent rights in the US.
This is the first dispute related to smartphones which the agency is hearing since Google announced on the 15th of August that it was acquiring Motorola Mobility for a price believed to be around $12.5 billion in order to obtain the company’s patents which can potentially save the internet search giant from a plethora of patent related lawsuits which target tablets and smartphone handsets which run on Google’s Android platform.
The deputy general counsel for litigation and corporate vice president of Microsoft, David Howard, said that the company is responsible to its employees, partners, customers and shareholders for safeguarding its intellectual property. He said that Motorola had openly infringed the company’s patents and it was sure that the ITC would rule in Microsoft’s favor.
Motorola’s spokeswoman, Jennifer Erickson, said that the company is trying vigorously to defend itself against the patent attack strategy that Microsoft pursues for business. She said that the company has also started to bring up its own legal issues in the US and Europe for addressing the large scale infringement of Motorola’s patents by Microsoft.
The claim of Microsoft against Motorola is just one of the many such smartphone cases being heard by the ITC, as an increasing number of companies are trying to manipulate their patents for filing lawsuits against their rivals in attempts to gain more market share in the mobile market which is expected to be worth $206 billion before the end of this year.
Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, is the maker of its own mobile platform, Windows Phone 7, which is up against competitors such as Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. Both Microsoft and Apple are known to be targeting smartphones and tablets which run on the Android OS in their several patent lawsuits.
