#11: Microsoft vs. Google: Patent Litigation in Germany

The article "Google Play and Google Maps under Patent Fire," on the FossPatents blog discusses how “Google (the parent company) and its wholly-owned subsidiary Motorola Mobility have to defend themselves against Microsoft assertion that Google Maps (with a particular focus on the Google Maps Android app) infringes EP0845124 on a ‘computer system for identifying local resources and method therefore.’" This case, which press claim to be "the climax to date in the so-called smartphone wars," will be resolved in the Munich I Regional Court. Apparently, Microsoft would have just sued Google’s subsidiary, Motorola, however, because Motorola denied that they knew about “how Google's server farms integrate map image data and geographic search results” the responsibility of infringing falls on Google. The German court system works a bit differently than the US system. In Germany, “when a litigant succeeds in an action for infringement, an injunction is immediately available.” Conversely, in America injunctions will only be “granted if a patent is deemed exploited and monetary damages remain the primary remedy.”

Furthermore:

German patent law has made the country something of a patent shelter in Europe. Germany provides expedient decisions and easy-to-obtain injunctions that are hard to challenge for defendants. All that sounds fantastic until a corporation or small business is the target of those laws rather than the one benefiting. Furthermore, in these tough economic times, Germany’s patent regime has broad consequences for economic and technological development. http://www.law.illinois.edu/bljournal/post/2012/04/17/Germany-and-Patents-All-that-Glitters-isnt-Gold.aspx

Because Germany has these different patent litigation procedures, Microsoft was able to strategically halt Google. This is a huge issue as Google allows Android producers to license their services to provide Android users with the benefit of being able to use Google maps which generates massive returns for Google though online advertising and app sales.

I am not sure how big this issue is compared to any of the other patent litigations we have had. However, I do find this interesting because it brings international patent procedures to our attention. However, I do think it is interesting that an injunction is issues so quickly in Germany, if that were the case in the U.S. perhaps less companies would sue as often knowing that they too may be at risk one day.  
http://www.fosspatents.com/