Google files antitrust suit against Nokia and Microsoft in Europe

It looks like Google is going on the offensive by filing an antitrust suit against Microsoft and Nokia in Europe. Google is actually calling this a defensive measure, and their complaint is that both Microsoft and Nokia are using proxy companies like Canada-based Mosaid Technologies to enforce their patents and share the revenues derived from them.

As you know Nokia is now making phones based on Microsoft's Windows Phone software. Because of this, Microsoft and Nokia formed a cross-licensing deal for their patents. Shortly after that was in place, Mosaid bought an entity called Core Wireless, which owned 2,000 patents and patent applications originally filed by Nokia. Google is alleging that Nokia colluded with Microsoft and Mosaid, and as a result, reversed course on their commitment to open-source software.

“Nokia and Microsoft are colluding to raise the costs of mobile devices for consumers, creating patent trolls that sidestep promises both companies have made,” a Google spokesman said in a statement. “They should be held accountable, and we hope our complaint spurs others to look into these practices.”

Microsoft made the following statement: “Google is complaining about patents when it won't respond to growing concerns by regulators, elected officials and judges about its abuse of standard-essential patents, and it is complaining about antitrust in the smartphone industry when it controls more than 95% of mobile search and advertising. This seems like a desperate tactic on their part.”

Nokia had this to say: “Though we have not yet seen the complaint, Google's suggestion that Nokia and Microsoft are colluding on intellectual property rights is wrong. Both companies have their own IPR portfolios and strategies and operate independently.”

This isn't the first complaint against Mosaid. Barnes & Noble said this in a letter to the U.S. Justice Department in October: “Microsoft's partnership with Mosaid is evidence of Microsoft's broader plan to shield itself from patent lawsuits while also eliminating competition from Android.”

I think it's safe to say that Google's complaint will make its way to the U.S. very soon.

source: wall street journal