Microsoft sues Motorola for patent infringement within Android

Microsoft has kicked off the fall with a lawsuit against Motorola and its use of the Android operating system in its smartphones. Microsoft claims that Android contains patented technology owned by Microsoft in the areas of synchronizing email, calendars and contacts, scheduling meetings and notifying applications of changes in signal strength and power. In addition to filing a lawsuit in federal court, Microsoft has also filed a patent infringement action with the International Trade Commission.

Motorola has seen a new surgence of success with Android, especially through its partnership with Verizon Wireless

. The carrier has not only backed Android, but considers the Motorola Droid 2 its flagship smartphone as demonstrated by an endless run of print and television advertising.

Besides damages, Microsoft is looking to attain royalties as a result of its claimed usage of patented technology within Android. If successful, the result would be a serious blow to the Android OS considering it is currently distributed under an open source license which a manufacturer does not pay a royalty on to use and is one of the main attractions of the mobile operating system. A royalty on every smartphone would result in Motorola being forced to raise its price points on current and future Android handsets.

Read more at the Technet Blog and the Microsoft press release

Brian’s Opinion

Microsoft has struggled in the mobile market. The most recent failure was demonstrated by the Microsoft Kin which was the company’s attempt to launch a social phone. Unfortunately, based on consumer demand, the Kin turned out to be a failure and was quickly abandoned only a few weeks after its initial launch. It also seemed to be a factor in Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, receiving a bonus of only 100% of his salary instead of a possible 200% according to Reuters.

Microsoft pins their future mobile hopes on two things. First is Windows Phone 7 that the company hopes will compete with Apple’s iPhone and Android-based smartphones which continue to grab market share. Second, Microsoft is now using the court system rather than a competitive open market to gain an advantage over Android. After all, if Microsoft is successful in its attempt to enforce patents which it claims Android uses, the result will be higher priced Android phones which will allow Microsoft to have an edge with Windows Phone 7 at least with price point.

Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel of Intellectual Property and Licensing for Microsoft, felt compelled to write a Technet blog to justify Microsoft’s most recent action against Motorola and its use of Android. To save you some reading let me summarize it for you. Gutierrez says that Microsoft created innovations used within Android, patented those innovations and therefore has an “obligation” to its customers, partners and shareholders to enforce its intellectual property.

While I do not deny Microsoft indeed has a right to do this, the timing is suspect. If the company was this passionate about protecting its intellectual property why has it taken this long to initiate action against a leading manufacturer of Android smartphones? The writing on the wall is that this is a strategic move timed to give Windows Phone 7 an edge against the popularity of Android. After all, this lawsuit was announced on October 1st and the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Windows Phone 7 handsets will be revealed on October 11th.

In reality it will do little to help with the success of Windows Phone 7 and does nothing but bite the hand of one carrier which was actually trying to feed Microsoft some mobile success when it agreed to offer the doomed Kin. Microsoft shouldn’t expect Verizon Wireless to be there the next time around considering they have put the operating system powering its Droid product line square in its cross-hairs