Microsoft sued Motorola's Android mobile phone violated nine patents

Is intensifying competition in the mobile phone industry, all kinds of patent cross-use and increasingly fierce market competition, so that all companies are tightening the string. Microsoft sued Motorola's Android mobile phone violated nine patents.

Horacio Gutierrez, Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for Microsoft, explains in a blog post, "The Microsoft innovations at issue in this case help make smartphones "smart." Indeed, our patents relate to key features that users have come to expect from every smartphone."

Motorola's Android smartphones are at the heart of a patent battle with Microsoft.Gutierrez continues, "That Microsoft has important patents in this area should not surprise anyone - we've spent over 30 years developing cutting-edge computer software," concluding with, "Our action today merely seeks to ensure respect for our intellectual property rights infringed by Android devices; and judging by the recent actions by Apple and Oracle, we are not alone in this respect."

Al Hilwa, Program Director of Applications Development Software for IDC said, "Patents are the way of tech today, whether we like it or not. Companies regularly engage in licensing discussions and deals with their partners and competitors, who are often the same. These lawsuits come up when there is a breakdown in the discussions."

The question is "What does Microsoft really want?"

Hilwa offers up one theory. "Android was a great gift to the industry, but lawsuits like this are beginning to throw doubts on its provenance. Microsoft is of course launching Windows Phone 7 for which it charges handset makers some dollars. The lawsuits around Android make the point that device licenses for the technology stack may be viewed as inexpensive when measured against the legal fees that might be incurred."

Admittedly, organizations have a right to defend intellectual property, and competitors should either engineer solutions on their own, or at least negotiate a licensing arrangement for patented concepts. That said, there doesn't seem to be a winner in these cases. Most of them fade to obscurity before the two parties eventually reach some sort of cross-licensing settlement. The time and money tied up in legal wrangling eventually trickles down to the cost of technology. The money has to be recovered somehow.