This info graphic from Reuters is an updated version of one the Guardian built nearly a year ago and it shows how many companies are involved in litigation over mobile patents, and how they are all interconnected. A quick look at it reveals how Apple is involved in most number of patent lawsuits and Android makers are often at the other end and also it would be interesting to see how Motorola’s acquisition by Google will help the in these and future patent problems………….
Patents are all the rage right now. More precisely, applying for, purchasing and suing the nearest competitor over patents is causing a craze in the mobile business environment. Thomson Reuters came out with a great chart that shows the current legal battleground for mobile patents. It is interesting to note who is getting sued and who is doing the suing. For instance, as much legal hot water that Google has been in, they are technically only being sued by Oracle over Java in the mobile realm. Microsoft has multiple suits going against Barnes & Noble, Foxconn (Apple’s primary factory where iOS devices are made), Motorola and Inventec. Yet, Apple takes the crown. It is being sued, is suing, or has settled suits with five different corporations. Apple is being sued by Kodak and has settled a suit and countersuit with Nokia. Yet, Apple is in a suit and countersuit situation with most of the major Android OEMs (except, oddly, LG) – HTC, Samsung and Motorola. Samsung is having a devil of a time trying to keep its Galaxy Tab on store shelves across the world, with injunctions being filed in Australia and in the European Union, specifically by Germany and the Netherlands, both of whom want to keep all Galaxy devices off the shelves. Microsoft is licensing patents to both HTC and Amazon (it worth noting that the Amazon vs. Apple legal battles do not involve actual patents and hence are not on this chart). The only entity on this list that appears to have escaped the patent wars is Qualcomm, which has already settled a suit and countersuit with Nokia. Qualcomm is a dark horse in this ecosystem because their chips power millions of devices and its owns (or owned) thousands of patents as well as a chunk of the wireless spectrum. They are, as they say, the straw that stirs the drink. And in below you will also find some other infographic lawsuits over patents, which are found via google image search:
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