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It's BT's Turn to Sue Google

December 19, 2011 | Craig Matsumoto |

BT Group plc filed a whopper of a patent suit against Google on Thursday, according to news reports published late Sunday night.

The complaint, posted on Scribd, says six of BT's U.S. patents are being violated by a lot of big-name Google products, including Google Search.

Other products named include Android Market, the Android operating system itself, Google Maps, Google Books and Google+.

That's right -- somebody cares enough about Google+ to file a lawsuit about it.

BT filed the suit in the U.S. District Court in Delaware. The company is asking for the usual, including injunctions against the continuation of the alleged infringements and damages.

Here's a summary of the lawsuit:

Table 1: It's Mostly About Maps

BT Patent No. Name Google Products Allegedly Infringing It
No. 6,151,309 Service Provision System for Communications networks
  • Google Music
  • Android
    		•
    No. 6,169,515 Navigation Information System
  • Google Maps
    		•
    No. 6,397,040 Telecommunications Apparatus and Method
  • Google Maps
  • Google Search
  • Google Places
  • Google Offers
  • Location-based advertising (as used in AdWords, AdSense, etc.)
  • Google+
    		•
    No. 6,578,079 Communications Node for Providing Network Based Information Service
  • Android Market
  • Google Books
  • Google Music
    		•
    No. 6,650,284 Information System
  • Google Maps
    		•
    No. 6,826,598 Storage and Retrieval of Location Based Information in a Distributed Network of Data Storage Devices
  • Google Maps
    		•
    Source: BT court complaint, as downloaded from http://www.scribd.com/doc/75995499/11-12-15-BT-v-Google-Complaint; US Patent & Trademark Office

    For more
    Google in court has become a familiar sight, usually because of something to do with Android.

    — Craig Matsumoto, West Coast Editor, Light Reading


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