This graphic from Thomson Reuters shows just who is suing whom in our current patent wars.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has filed legal actions with the International Trade Commission and the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Washington against Barnes & Noble Inc., Foxconn, and Inventec Corporation for patent infringement by their Android-based e-reader and tablet devices that is being marketed under the Barnes & Noble brand.

According to DigiTimes, Inventec has already shipped about 60,000 Chrome operating system powered netbooks to Google. The Chrome OS based products are estimated to arrive in the first half of 2011. Acer worked with Quanta Computer to develop at 10.1-inch Atom N550-based Chrome OS netback that has built in WiFi and Bluetooth. [DigiTimes]

Acer President of IT Products Business Group Jim Wong said that the “consumer launch” of the Chrome OS is happening next year, but Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) still has something under their sleeve for 2010. The company is rumored to be selling a Chrome OS netbook for early adopters and development purposes. The netbook will be powered by the Intel Atom Pine Trail processor. About 75,000 units are going to be manufactured by Taiwan based ODM Inventec. [Engadget]