MICROSOFT SUES MOTOROLA FOR PATENT INFRINGEMENT

It was only a matter of time before this happened.  A few weeks ago Microsoft released a statement saying due to lawsuits for patent infringement Android was more expensive than Windows Phone 7 (WP7).  Now, Microsoft is suing one of the largest Android manufacturers for patent infringement.....surprise!

Microsoft is claiming infringement on nine software patents.   These are:

• 5,579,517: Common name space for long and short filenames
• 5,758,352: Common name space for long and short filenames
• 6,621,746: Monitoring entropic conditions of a flash memory device as an indicator for invoking erasure operations
• 6,826,762: Radio interface layer in a cell phone with a set of APIs having a hardware-independent proxy layer and a hardware-specific driver layer
• 6,909,910: Method and system for managing changes to a contact database
• 7,644,376: Flexible architecture for notifying applications of state changes
• 5,664,133: Context sensitive menu system/menu behavior
• 6,578,054: Method and system for supporting off-line mode of operation and synchronization using resource state information
• 6,370,566: Generating meeting requests and group scheduling from a mobile device

In a nutshell the patents all cover basic smartphone experiences related to email, calendar and contact syncing; scheduling meetings; notifying applications of changes in signal strength and battery power.

Microsoft released a statement saying "We have a responsibility to our customers, partners, and shareholders to safeguard the billions of dollars we invest each year in bringing innovative software products and services to market. Our action today merely seeks to ensure respect for our intellectual property rights infringed by Android devices; and judging by the recent actions by Apple and Oracle, we are not alone in this respect" [Ars Technica]