Executives at Microsoft have been taking shots at archrival Google’s Android mobile operating system for months now, alleging, among other things, that the open source OS is hardly free and that it plays fast and loose with intellectual property rights.
Now, the company has gone a step farther. Microsoft is suing Motorola for infringing on nine of its software patents related to technology in the Android smartphones the Schaumburg, Ill.-based company produces. Motorola says it will “vigorously defend” itself against the patent suit. Enterprise Mobile Today takes a look.
Microsoft has been talking smack to Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) of late, charging the search giant’s Android operating system isn’t as “free” as the company says it is and hinting that Android could end up entangled in a patent infringement lawsuit.
But talk is cheap. On Friday, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) took a much bolder step, suing Motorola (NYSE: MOT) for allegedly infringing nine of the software titan’s patents in its Droid mobile handsets, which are powered by Android.