Google today stepped up its battle to protect its patents, with the latest target a countersuit against BT, the UK incumbent telecoms carrier, along with Ipanema Technologies, which resells some of BT?s services. The suit relates to four patents that Google says are being infringed by enterprise services that BT runs over its IP network, specifically relating to its conferencing services and quality of service assurance products.
Google today filed a suit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, which we have embedded below. TechCrunch understands that BT will be served with papers tomorrow (Thursday) in the UK, at which point that suit will become available as well.
The lawsuit in the U.S. was first noticed by Reuters earlier today. The patents in question are U.S. Patent numbers 5,581,703; 5,701,465; 6,807,166; and 7,460,558. And specifically, Google is suing BT Conferencing, BT Americas, BT INS and Ipanema Technologies.
Google?s suit filed today is in response to BT?s original patent claims against the search giant, which it made in December 2011. Those were not related to the same services that Google is claiming against BT. Rather, BT is suing Google over patent infringement related to its Android mobile operating system.
We have reached out to BT regarding today?s suit and are awaiting a reply. We?ll update this post as we learn more. For now, a Google spokesperson tells us that litigation is a ?last resort? for the company:
?We have always seen litigation as a last resort, and we work hard to avoid lawsuits. But BT has brought several meritless patent claims against Google and our customers?and they?ve also been arming patent trolls. When faced with these kind of actions, we will defend ourselves.?
It also sounds like negotiations have grown acrimonious between the two companies in the 13 months since BT first filed its patent claims against Google: TechCrunch also understands that BT is engaging in a practice called ?patent privateering,? in which it sells its patents on to a third party for that third party to then file suits against Google or another defendant.
BT subsequently gets a cut of any of the proceeds of any patent suits or licensees signed related to those patents. This is a pretty common practice in the world of patents; Ericsson reached a similar arrangement for proceeds from patents in its recent 2,400 patent transfer to Unwired Planet. Google says it has already been sued by one such company related to BT patents, Suffolk Technologies.
This week is shaping up to be a legal blitz for Google in Europe. Earlier today, we wrote about another suit that Google filed, in Russia, on February 11, which was an appeal on a decision made by the Russian consumer regulator to blacklist content on YouTube as part of the country?s new firewall.
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September 7, 1998
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Google provides search and advertising services, which together aim to organize and monetize the world?s information. In addition to its dominant search engine, it offers a plethora of online tools and platforms including: Gmail, Maps, YouTube, and Google+, the company?s extension into the social space. Most of its Web-based products are free, funded by Google?s highly integrated online advertising platforms AdWords and AdSense. Google promotes the idea that advertising should be highly targeted and relevant to users thus providing...
? Learn moreBT Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides communications and IT services to consumer and business sectors in the UK, enterprise sectors globally and wholesale services to other UK service providers. The Group operates through 4 main customer facing divisions: BT Global Services (Global operation) BT Retail (UK only operation) BT Wholesale (UK only operation) BT Openreach (UK only operation) The BT Global Services division provides managed networked IT services, applications management, professional services, and outsourcing solutions to corporate, carrier, and government organizations globally. The...
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