Re:Microsoft and Google jointly sue a patent troll who has s...
by tzs on Thursday March 03, 2011 @06:55AM
(#2283663)
The problem here is that the reason they are suing nearly 400 companies is as a tactic against Google and Microsoft. Essentially the patent covers looking up in a database items that have geographic information associated with them, and displaying the results on a map.
They think Google maps and Bing maps violate this. They also know that if they sued either of those two, neither would not be interested in settling and buying a license. Either of them would go ahead and mount a vigorous defense, and very likely destroy the patent.
So, instead of suing Google and Microsoft, who they know would destroy their bogus patent, they are going after companies that use Google maps or Bing maps, such as companies that have a "store locator" on their web site that will show you where nearby stores are located.
Their hope is that those nearly 400 companies will all put pressure on Google and Microsoft to make the suits quickly go away, and that Google and Microsoft will respond by just going ahead and licensing the patent since that is quicker than getting it invalidated.
They think Google maps and Bing maps violate this. They also know that if they sued either of those two, neither would not be interested in settling and buying a license. Either of them would go ahead and mount a vigorous defense, and very likely destroy the patent.
So, instead of suing Google and Microsoft, who they know would destroy their bogus patent, they are going after companies that use Google maps or Bing maps, such as companies that have a "store locator" on their web site that will show you where nearby stores are located.
Their hope is that those nearly 400 companies will all put pressure on Google and Microsoft to make the suits quickly go away, and that Google and Microsoft will respond by just going ahead and licensing the patent since that is quicker than getting it invalidated.