Microsoft indicated yesterday that it would be adding Google to the ongoing patent infringement lawsuit it filed against Motorola. The announcement marks a shift in Microsoft's strategy, which has usually been to target the manufacturers of devices running Google's Android operating system, which Microsoft alleges infringes on software patents it holds. As
Reuters reports, Microsoft claims that it is adding Google to the lawsuit because its case relies in part on data that Motorola says rests only with Google.
Microsoft's current claim concerns a method for mobile devices to obtain a map from a database and location data from a separate database before overlaying the two sets of data. The Redmond software giant claims that the Google Maps app on Motorola's Android devices violates a patent Microsoft holds on this function.
In responding to the expansion of Microsoft's patent suit, Google claimed that while it would like to "focus on innovation, not litigation," the company is prepared to "vigorously defend against any amended complaint Microsoft files."
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