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Electronics Production |
Microsoft goes after Foxconn, Inventec, Barnes & Noble
Microsoft filed legal actions in the ITC and the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Washington against Barnes & Noble and its device manufacturers, Foxconn International Holdings and Inventec, for patent infringement by their Android-based e-reader and tablet devices.
“The Android platform infringes a number of Microsoft’s patents, and companies manufacturing and shipping Android devices must respect our intellectual property rights. To facilitate that we have established an industry-wide patent licensing program for Android device manufacturers,” said Horacio Gutierrez, Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for Intellectual Property & Licensing.
“HTC, a market leader in Android smartphones, has taken a license under this program. We have tried for over a year to reach licensing agreements with Barnes & Noble, Foxconn and Inventec. Their refusals to take licenses leave us no choice but to bring legal action to defend our innovations and fulfill our responsibility to our customers, partners, and shareholders to safeguard the billions of dollars we invest each year to bring great software products and services to market,” he added.
