Reported By:
| Edited By: |Source: Reuters |Updated: Mar 17, 2018, 05:30 AM IST
Microsoft Corp sued Motorola Inc, alleging patent infringement on the handset maker's line of Android phones, in the latest development in a web of legal actions in the evolving smart phone business.
Microsoft, the world's largest software company, said on Friday that it sued Motorola for infringement of nine Microsoft patents in the Android-based smartphones, which run on software built by Google Inc. Microsoft makes its own Windows phone software.
The patents relate to synchronizing email, calendars and contacts, scheduling meetings and notifying applications of changes in signal strength and battery power, Microsoft said in a statement.
A Motorola spokesperson said the company has not yet received a copy of the suit, but based on its strong intellectual property portfolio, plans to "vigorously defend itself."
The suit is the latest in a complicated series of legal actions between various phone makers and software firms over who owns patents to the technology used in smart phones, kicked off by Nokia suing Apple Inc last year, and Apple subsequently suing handset maker HTC Corp.
Microsoft said it filed its actions against Motorola at the International Trade Commission and in federal court in Seattle.
The case is 2:10-cv-01577 Microsoft Corporation v. Motorola Inc, filed in the the US District Court for the Western District of Washington.
