A little late to the party but with one heck of a claim, British Telecom, BT, has now filed a lawsuit against Google, claiming that almost all Google products and services infringe at least one of six patents involved in the case, amongst which are Android OS, AdSense, Google Search, Google+, GMail, Google Docs, Google Maps and Google Music.
The patents offered up by BT range from as far back as 1998 and cover an exceptionally broad range of applications, such as determining whether or not to download unless a WiFi connection is available, that's Google Music and Google Android, the overlaying of current information over a mobile connection to compliment existing information, that's Google Maps Traffic and Guidance, the generation and transmission of location dependant source short-lists, that's just about every Google product, basic digital rights management over a network by storing customer identities to determine access rights, this one's Android Market.
We honestly can't see this case taking-off and we sincerely hope that the courts agree. These patents describe natural evolution of mobile and networked services and common sense solutions to a wide-array of applications, primarily relating to simple data management, far from the "inventions" that BT claims they are.
This isn't the first time Android has been under attack by a BT patent, with Apple, earlier this year, raising an ITC complaint against HTC involving a BT patent acquired back in 2008.
For those with an interest, below are links to information pertaining to the case.
