By Tim Worstall, Contributor This would be annoying at a personal level as well as being slightly strange on the larger one. For we use Google Maps in Germany to guide trucks to a mining site. But that’s of course a minor point as compared to the possible outcome of this case detailed by Florian Mueller. It looks like Microsoft has a very good chance of prevailing in a patent trial against Motorola Mobility and Google over an issue crucial for the use of Google Maps: ….inclined to hold Google Inc., its subsidiary Motorola Mobility LLC and MMI’s German subsidiary liable for infringement of a key Microsoft patent, EP0845124 on a “computer system for identifying local resources and method therefor”, which is the European equivalent of U.S. Patent No. 6,240,360. And this would mean: Microsoft is seeking, and now very likely to obtain, a German patent injunction against the Google Maps service, the Google Maps Android client app, and web browsers providing access to Google Maps. In order to comply with the injunction that looms large, Google would have to disable access to Google Maps from computers using a German IP address, discontinue shipping the Google Maps Android app in the German market, and distribute web browsers in Germany only if they block access to Google Maps in a way comparable to Internet filters used for the purpose of parental controls. This is really about something larger than Maps though. There’s two parts to this. A finding of patent violation in a German court does not bind courts in other jurisdictions. But it will be influential on any similar cases: most especially in other EU courts. So assuming that Microsoft prevails here we will presumably see it taking the same issue to other jurisdictions where it has the same patent. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest