Volume IX

Issue : 2: September 23, 2010

• Map No-Evil: Skyhook Sues Google for Contractual Interference, Unfair Trade Practices and Patent Infringement
• On-line Tracking Tools Facing Increased Legal and Regulatory Scrutiny
• T-Mobile Sued for Blocking Medical Marijuana Text Messages
• Canadian Software Company Sues Dell for Patent Infringement
• CRTC Rules that Major Telecommunication Carriers Must Accommodate Alternate ISPs
• U.S. Appeals Court Rules on Disclosure of Cell Location Records to Authorities
• Canadian Privacy Regulator Still Sees Facebook as a Challenge

Home > Volume IX > Issue 2: September 23, 2010 > Map No-Evil: Skyhook Sues Google for Contractual Interference, Unfair Trade Practices and Patent Infringement

Map No-Evil: Skyhook Sues Google for Contractual Interference, Unfair Trade Practices and Patent Infringement

Skyhook Wireless, Inc., has sued Google, Inc., in Massachusetts over allegations of intentional interference with contractual relations, unfair trade practices and patent infringement related to its Wi-Fi based location mapping system for use with mobile Internet applications.  The USPTO shows that Skyhook has 12 issued U.S. patents and 32 published U.S. patent applications on mobile location mapping technology comprising Wi-Fi derived location data.  Skyhook formerly licensed its technology both to Google and to Apple Inc., for the iPhone.  Skyhook’s XPS positioning system application competes directly with Google’s free Google Location Service application, embedded in Google’s Android OS mobile phone operating system.

The contractual interference and unfair trade practices claims stem from Google’s alleged manipulation of access rules to the Android platform, which prevented Skyhook from having XPS loaded on the Android based devices of its OEM customers.  In particular, Skyhook’s licensing agreement with Motorola and an undisclosed Company X (believed to be Samsung) were breached when Google refused to grant Android Compatible designations to those phones which used XPS instead of the Google Location Service.  The Android Compatible designation is awarded by Google to applications which meet objective technological requirements (which XPS appears to meet) as well as certain non-standardized, subjective requirements.  Such subjective requirements were allegedly unfairly and inconsistently applied by Google.  Google allegedly requested that Motorola cause its devices to run Google Location Service in parallel with XPS with the dual impacts of Google improperly obtaining Skyhook’s proprietary data and at the same time unnecessarily worsening the end user experience on the devices; and Skyhook refused to consent to this.  If true, this allegation appears to establish that there was no bona fide technical compatibility issue; merely a desire by Google to use the Android “Open Source” Platform to gain market share in mobile device location mapping.

If litigated, these cases should help clarify the law governing contractual interference and unfair trade practices by gate keepers of so-called open source development platforms, and possible disgorgement of data collected by infringing a patented process. 

For commentary on the contractual interference complaint Skyhook Wireless v. Google, with a link to the complaint itself, visit:
http://tinyurl.com/2wpz2mp

For earlier commentary on Skyhook’s potential patent claims against Google and Apple Inc., visit:
http://gigaom.com/2010/08/03/skyhook-will-take-the-location-battle-to-court/