Based on a report from winrumors, Motorola has filed a complaint against Microsoft alleging that they are infringing on 16 different patents owned by Motorola. Motorola filed the complaint just two days after Microsoft filed a lawsuit against Motorola for charging royalty rates higher than the amount originally agreed upon by the two companies.
Motorola"s complaints are cover a wide range of products and software offered by Microsoft. The complaint claims that digital video coding techniques, email technology used by Exchange server and Outlook, and Windows Live Messenger all infringe on patents owned by Motorola. They also claim that the Windows Phone Marketplace and Bing Maps also contain technology patented by Motorola.
Kirk Dailey, corporate vice president of intellectual property at Motorola Mobility, had this to say about the lawsuit:
“Motorola’s R&D and intellectual property are of great importance to the Company and are renowned worldwide. We are committed to protecting the interests of our shareholders, customers and other stakeholders and are bringing this action against Microsoft in order to halt its infringement of key Motorola patents. Motorola has invested billions of dollars in R&D to create a deep and broad intellectual property portfolio and we will continue to do what is necessary to protect our proprietary technology. ”
Dailey went on to say that he is disappointed Microsoft chose to take the path of litigation to resolve their pricing dispute with Motorola rather than work things out through corporate negotiations. This brings up the questions; why did Motorola choose the same path?