Tag Archives: TomTom
Microsoft and TomTom Settle Patent Lawsuit, As Expected
Microsoft Corporation and GPS device company TomTom have settled the patent lawsuits that they have filed against each other. Microsoft sued TomTom in late February and TomTom sued them back earlier this month. Both companies were expected to just settle with each other rather than spend too much money on litigation battling each other.
As part of the agreement, TomTom will pay Microsoft for patent protection where related to mapping patents and file management patents. Microsoft claimed that TomTom was infringing on the software giant’s use of the Linux kernel. Microsoft will also receive access to TomTom’s patents that were referred to in the lawsuit against them. Microsoft won’t make any payments to TomTom for using their patents.
This settlement has a five year term and TomTom will remove functionality related to Microsoft’s two file management system patents from their products over the next couple of years. “We are pleased TomTom has chosen to resolve the litigation amicably by entering into a patent agreement,” stated Microsoft’s deputy general counsel Horacio Gutierrez.
[via CNET]
Categories Horacio Gutierrez, Microsoft Corporation, TomTom
1 Comment
TomTom Countersues Microsoft
Late last month, I wrote about how Microsoft was taking TomTom to court over an in-car navigation patent violation. Obviously TomTom wasn’t too happy about having to deal with this litigation, but now they have decided to countersue Microsoft over patent violations as well. TomTom claims that Microsoft is infringing on three of their in-car navigation patents.
The three patents that TomTom is claiming that Microsoft is infringing upon are “Generating a Maneuver at the Intersection Through A Turn Lane” (5,902,350), “Route Generation in a Vehicle Navigation System” (5,938,720), and “Quick Selection of Destinations in an Automobile Navigation System” (6,660,994).
Microsoft sued TomTom last month over patents that cover the Microsoft FAT32 filesystem. Since TomTom uses Linux, this is believed to be the first time that Microsoft has targetted a Linux-based system with patent violation litigation. Microsoft could use the File Allocation Table (FAT) patents to do some serious damage to Linux if they chose to.
Analysts believe that the lawsuits will likely cancel each other out and Microsoft and TomTom both won’t be affected. A settlement has to take place first.
[via Ars]
Categories Microsoft Corporation, TomTom
Leave a comment
Microsoft Suing TomTom Over In-Car Navigation Patent Violation
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has decided to file a lawsuit against TomTom today regarding the violation of in-car navigation services. Microsoft believes that TomTom is violating 8 of their patents. Three of these violations relate to the way that TomTom implemented the Linux kernel. Using Linux isn’t the main point of the lawsuit, but it is more of the violation of using proprietary software. Microsoft said that they filed the lawsuit out of last resort.
The case was filed in the U.S. District Court in Seattle and the International Trade Commission. Horacio Gutierrez, Microsoft’s corporate VP and deputy general counsel stated that this is the first time Microsoft has had this kind of lawsuit. Both of the previous lawsuits were settled after they were filed. Microsoft has had about 500 patent licensing deals made in the past 5 years.
“In exceptional cases such as this one, when a pragmatic business agreement cannot be reached, we feel that we really have no choice but to pursue legal action to protect our innovations and our partners who license them,” stated Gutierrez. Microsoft has struck licensing deals with other in-car navigation services. The company “remains open” to resolving the TomTom lawsuit quickly.
[via TechFlash]
Categories Horacio Gutierrez, Microsoft Corporation, TomTom
4 Comments