In response to a lawsuit slapped on it in 2011 for patent infringement, which it calls “meritless”, web giant Google and its phone subsidiary Motorola Mobility are countersuing BT for the same thing.
Google claimed yesterday that BT infringes four Google patents connected to the transmission of files over a network, based on three patents that it bought from IBM in 2010, and one from Fujitsu. It also said that it has filed a separate action in the UK. While in its US court filing Google claims BT infringes patents on networking and making phone calls over the internet.
BT’s patent infringement claims against Google relate to Android, Gmail and Google Maps, with the lawsuit yet to see the inside of a courtroom. Google’s reciprocal lawsuit is almost standard procedure and might be seen as a first step in trying to negotiate an out of court settlement.
Google has been building up its patent portfolio in recent years and it is believed that the firm paid $12.5bn for Motorola Mobility, but mostly for its 16,000 patents rather than the firm’s ailing smartphone business.
A spokesman for Google said that litigation was something the company works hard to avoid and is definitely a last resort but that the company was sick of the several meritless patent claims against it and its customers.
Google also accused BT of “arming patent trolls,” referring to the creation of shell companies, which are also known as “non-practising entities” or NPEs. These are companies that simply own patents and demand licensing for them from larger businesses. NPEs bear little risk if a lawsuit fails, unlike a larger rival, which might have to pay legal costs if it failed to win its case.