Skyhook Sues Google for Interference, Patent Infringement

Clint Boulton, reporting for eWeek:

In the interference suit, filed in Massachusetts Superior Court, Skyhook claimed Google costs it tens of millions of dollars by trying to cut in on its contract with Motorola, which makes smartphones that leverage location services.

Motorola, which makes and sells smartphones based on Google’s Android operating system, agreed to use Skyhook’s XPS location technology in April.

When Google Vice President of Engineering Andy Rubin learned of this, according to the suit, he called Motorola Co-CEO Sanjay Jha to impose a “stop ship” order, preventing Motorola from shipping Android wireless devices featuring Skyhook’s XPS software.

Rubin claimed that using XPS in Android phones would make them incompatible. Motorola ended up shipping its Motorola Droid X smartphone in mid-July using Google’s location software instead of the Skyhook XPS technology.

Nice.

★ Thursday, 16 September 2010