Microsoft wants TT out of US market

Microsoft has sued TomTom. The software giant maintains that the Dutch producer of navigational devices has infringed eight of their patents. Five of those patents cover car navigation and the other three, the storing of data.

Not only does Microsoft want TomTom to stop infringing their patents, they also demand a complete halt to imports of all TomTom products onto US soil.

Negotiations

According to Microsoft, both companies have been trying to reach a settlement for more than a year; they say they first reported this issue to TomTom in June 2008. "We have taken this action after attempting for more than a year to engage in licensing discussions with TomTom", says Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel of Intellectual Property and Licensing. He also adds: "We remain open to quickly resolving this situation with them through an IP licensing agreement."

For the last five years, Microsoft has allowed other companies to use their patents, as long as they pay a licence fee. Over that time, more than 500 agreements have been made with many different companies, including direct competitors like Apple and Google.

Patents

The patents which Microsoft claims are infringed by TomTom mainly deal with the simultaneous execution of different applications, the displaying of more natural navigational commands, integration with other systems and internet access. But MS also claim their patents for naming, organising and accessing files and the use of flash memory for music and photos are being infringed.

TomTom have rejected Microsoft's claims. The Dutch company said it will "vigorously defend" itself. Previously, in 2006, TomTom went to court with arch-rival Garmin for supposed patent infringements, but when the dust had settled, the general conclusion was there were no winners with that specific case.

Linux

Since three of the alleged patent infringements are over the basic FAT file system, this case could have huge ramifications for Linux and other open-source software. FAT (File Allocation Table) is an old technology, but is nowaydays still used a lot for flash cards, USB sticks and other simple devices which don't need a lot of security. It is also ideal for compatibility between Linux and Windows systems.

A lot of people feared this specific case would be a 'trial case' and that Microsoft's next target could be the Linux operating system. Microsoft has denied that. They claim their lawsuit is very specific to how TomTom uses the Linux kernel. Horacio Gutierrez: "(It's the) TomTom implementation of the Linux kernel that infringes these claims. There are many flavors of Linux (and) many implementations of the Linux kernel. Cases such as these are very fact-specific. This is just a normal course-of-business dispute between two companies. (Linux) is not the focal point of the action." Ironically, it could have been obviated had Microsoft bought TomTom back in 2006, as it was then rumored to be interesting in doing.

More bad news

This pending court case is more bad news for TomTom. Earlier this week the company had to announce a big loss in the fourth quarter of 2008, due to a deduction of more than one billion euro on the value of their recently purchased map supplier, Tele Atlas. The prospects for TomTom are rather bleak with the current worldwide economical situation. The negative publicity that automatically comes with this complaint by Microsoft is probably the last thing TomTom was looking for.