Android: British Telecom sues Google

Android has found a new adversary with carrier British Telecom who has filed a law suit against Google in the United States for patent violations.

Another large telecommunications company has now stepped up and filed legal proceedings against Google, their services and their Android mobile platform for breaching six patents ranging from information sharing over networks to mobile phone positioning and access detection services that the user calls on when accessing either Wi-Fi or cellular networks.

British carrier British Telecom (BT) has demanded damages for the unauthorised use of patents and a fine following the breakdown of repeated negotiation requests with Google and their use non-use of a valid patent license.


Another bog player against Android
As is often the case, a breakdown in communications has led to a legal filing being made to try and pressure the guilty party back to the negotiation table. The timing of this new affair is interesting, as Google is on the verge of closing their acquisition of Motorola Mobility to get their hands on a large holding of patents.

Florian Müller, in his FOSS Patents blog, suggests that BT has decided to follow up on the matter independently of the current acquisition which is being approved, attacking Google directly so as to not disturb their handset manufacturing partners.

Florian Müller also states that facing an increasing number of large players lining up against them for payments (or those that believed they are due something), Google could have no other choice than to modify their Android licensing scheme.

He goes on to indicate that one of the patents used by Apple against HTC in the United States in their second filing with the ITC (International Trade Commission) came about from the fact that it was acquired by Apple in 2008 from BT.