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While throughout last year we had seen a public war of words between Microsoft and Google, this time things are heating up to enter the legal arena full scale.
Microsoft has sought license fees from Android resellers and has expressed willingness to sue those who fail to comply. Significantly, last March, Microsoft added itself as a party to an antitrust complaint initially filed by other small businesses against Google.
However, the latest scene is set to be on fire.
In its latest complaint, Microsoft accused Motorola of breaching faith and breaking its promise to license its patents under “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory” terms.
The complaints are targeted at Motorola for overcharging for some patents related to H.264 videos. Microsoft claims that while it licenses more than 3,000 patents from close to 30 companies at a cost near $0.02 on a $1000 laptop, Motorola is trying to charge $22.50 for its 50 patents.
A similar complaint against Motorola has been filed by Apple in Europe.
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However, such claims do not prevent Microsoft from charging questionably high fees from Android resellers. But, as critics point out, Microsoft never licensed these patents for use in a broadly available standard like the H.264 video format. Broadly available formats need to be under the required FRAND terms according to industry conventions.
Google released a statement in retort saying, “We haven’t seen Microsoft’s complaint, but it’s consistent with the way they use the regulatory process to attack competitors. It’s particularly ironic, given their track record in this area and collaboration with patent trolls.”
The war between the two software giants, one ruling desktops and the other the internet has been food for thought with the global consumers caught in between.
Recently Microsoft released full page ads in criticism of Google’s new privacy policy, and Google replied with a blog post debunking “myths” about Microsoft.
Last year, Microsoft had invited Google’s Matt Cutts to a panel moderated by a well-known Google critic in presence of Bing’s Harry Shum. However, just before walking into the meeting, Google released proof to Search Engine Land that showed how Bing was scraping search results from Google. The discussion began and ended on that theme instead of creating the Googlegate Microsoft wanted.
