Google sought out a declaratory judgement in a lawsuit filed on October 7 that would state it has not infringed upon any of InfoGation’s patents.
The most recent lawsuit from InfoGation came in July of this year, claiming infringement of US patent number 6,292,743.
From 1915 to 1916, the U.S. Patent Office granted more than 400 patents per person. Since then, however, the number of patents per person or company has increased to over 120,000. Even those who aren’t patent law specialists can tell you that those numbers are incredibly high.
The specific patent that InfoGation is referring to, however, is in relation to navigation and routing information that, they allege, Android system and Google Maps users have been using.
Google has claimed the company is suing “the wrong defendants in the wrong forum.”
Unfortunately, Google may have to go up against a bigger company in the near future.
Earlier this week, the Silicon Valley giant revealed Pixel, a new AI-driven smartphone.
The goal of the phone is undoubtedly to draw iPhone users to the product, but there’s one problem: the phone is a dead ringer for an iPhone.
Even the most experienced and established patent lawyer might have a tough time defending that design.
Unlike the iPhone, Pixel doesn’t have a home button, but features strikingly similar physical features.
Google’s senior vice-president of hardware, Rick Osterloh, has claimed that “there’s no unsightly camera bump” like that on the iPhone 7, but the physical design otherwise looks much the same.
There’s absolutely no guarantee that Google will be able to escape an intellectual property lawsuit on this front, but on the slim chance that they don’t, it could mean the end of smartphone design wars.
“I’m not entirely sure Google won’t be sued – or at least get a nasty letter,” said Sarah Burstein, a professor at the University of Oklahoma College of Law and an expert on design law.
Regardless of what Apple decides to do, Google certainly has proficient intellectual property counsel to handle it, as is evident by its retaliation at InfoGation.
The company also stated in its lawsuit that InfoGation’s claims have “threatened” relationships with its partners.