Motorola Sued for Android Phones

Microsoft filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Motorola on Oct. 2010, alleging that Motorola’s Android-based smartphones infringe on nine Microsoft patents that make the smartphone smart by enhancing a user’s productivity, making it easier for an application to know the signal strength and battery power and allowing users to access e-mail and calendars. Android is a mobile OS from Google, which is based on a modified version of the Linux kernel; the suit could give pause to organizations considering Android as a corporate standard.

Slowing Windows Phone Competition

This suit comes as Microsoft is launching its Windows Phone 7 platform and working with partners to get the first Phone 7—based devices into the market. Android and Apple’s iOS are the major competitive platforms to Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 7. Despite the suit, Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha was quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying he is “open to finding ways to work with Microsoft, but it has to be a compelling offering.” Microsoft settled similar claims against HTC, which licensed Microsoft’s technologies for an undisclosed sum in Apr. 2007. Like HTC, Motorola may ultimately license the technology and be a Phone 7 partner.