Skyhook Wireless, Inc., a US-based provider of data intelligence, has reportedly filed a lawsuit against Internet search services provider, Google, Inc., US, for patent infringement. Skyhook has accused Google of infringing on patents related to wi-fi use in determining a cell phone's location, and for business interference for using that technology.
According to the suit, filed in Massachusetts state court, Google interfered with contracts Skyhook had reached with phone makers including Motorola. In a separate complaint filed in the federal court in Boston, Skyhook has alleged that Google violated four of its patents related to ways to establish the precise location of a smartphone.
In April this year, Google and Skyhook signed a deal for Google's Android operating system to use software made by Skyhook to pinpoint users for location-based apps on the Droid line of phones made by Motorola. The business interference suit reportedly states: 'On information and belief, shortly thereafter, Andy Rubin (Google's Vice President of Engineering overseeing development of Android) called Sanjay Jha (Co-Chief Executive Officer of Motorola and Chief Executive Officer of Motorola's Mobile Devices business) multiple times to impose a "stop ship" order on Motorola preventing Motorola from shipping Android wireless devices featuring Skyhook's XPS client software'.
Skyhook alleges that Google threatened to retract the rights of phone makers to deploy its Android operating system on devices that contained Skyhook's software. It is seeking damages in the tens of millions of dollars. In the patent case, the company is seeking unspecified damages and an order that would prevent further use of its inventions.
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