Microsoft has made its first public claim to intellectual property in the Android platform, a move that could lead to legal battles with Google. The software giant has announced a licensing deal with HTC covering Microsoft patents within the vendor’s Android handsets, and along with this came the first public allegation that Android infringes on Microsoft’s intellectual property.
Never slow to spot an enemy’s weak spot, Microsoft chose this dark week for Google’s mobile ambitions to make its pronouncements. The CNET.com news service reported that Microsoft’s internal view is strongly against Android. It believes the Google OS infringes on its patents and these alleged violations apply to a broad range of areas from the user interface to the underlying OS itself, though it would not enlarge on specific IPR. In a statement to CNET, Microsoft’s deputy general counsel Horacio Gutierrez said that, although the giant prefers to resolve licensing issues without lawsuits, it must ensure that “competitors do not free ride on our innovations”.
Microsoft is getting indirectly involved in the current patents dispute between Apple and HTC, which cites the Taiwanese vendor’s Android and Windows Mobile devices. Microsoft and HTC, its most loyal handset ally and the market leader in WinMo phones, have announced a new licensing deal, which specifically provides the manufacturer with the right to use Microsoft’s patented technologies in Android. The HTC agreement carries unspecified royalties and applies to all HTC’s Android phones, including the Nexus One it makes for Google.
This is a clear statement of IPR ownership by the software giant, which says it is in talks with other vendors too, and could conceivably lead to legal action against Google itself. “We have also consistently taken a proactive approach to licensing to resolve IP infringement by other companies and have been talking with several device manufacturers to address our concerns relative to the Android mobile platform,” Gutierrez said in his interview.
This is likely to be part of a broader attempt to disrupt Android’s progress in preparation for the debut of Windows Phone 7, rather than to gain control of the Google OS. It is a familiar tactic from Microsoft, which has been expected for some time to get more aggressive about Linux patents. It has signed many deals over the years, but none regarding Android.
Some have speculated it could get involved in the main ongoing smartphone OS patent suits, between Apple and Nokia, and Apple and HTC. Its aim would be to present Windows Phone 7 as a platform that would be invulnerable to either IPR or antitrust lawsuits, and so a useful hedge against the growing power of both Google and Apple. Whether to acknowledge and license Microsoft’s Android patents will be a significant dilemma for Google.
Our own view is that the long standing SCO legal battle against Linux showed that dire warnings against operating system ownership tends to simply peter out against Linux, because it is so well documented ‘ a thing that SCO hoped was not the case. Any additional to Linux that Android has may indeed tread on some Microsoft toes, but we think this is bluster and highly unlikely. We also don’t think that this is must more than a way to attract people to Windows Phone 7, as IPR problem free and that real legal action will not see the light of day.