Microsoft Corporation Files Patent Suit Against Kyocera

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Microsoft has sued Kyocera in Seattle for allegedly infringing upon seven of its patents. The company has asked the court for a sales injunction against Kyocera’s Brigadier, DuraForce and Hydro phones. The move marks a deviation from Microsoft’s usual tactic, which is to settle patent disputes out of court.

Microsoft sues Kyocera

Microsoft has good reason for wanting licensing royalties from Kyocera, as most manufacturers of Android phones already pay royalties, amounting to some nice revenue for Microsoft. Among the Android manufacturers that pay royalties to Microsoft are Samsung, LG, Motorola, HTC and ZTE.

In addition to a sales ban against three of Kyocera’s mobile phone lines, Microsoft is also seeking damages compensation in the lawsuit.

Microsoft in a (comparably) rare court battle

Dan Levine of Reuters reported on Friday that the lawsuit accuses Kyocera of using its patents for text messaging, location services and other technology without paying royalties on their use. It seems likely that Kyocera will settle with Microsoft out of court, although it does seem a bit odd that this case got into court in the first place.

Microsoft typically handles such matters behind closed doors, only taking them to court if a company refuses to settle out of court.

Apple, Samsung battle in the world’s courts

Apple and Samsung, on the other hand, prefer to drag alleged patent infringers into court rather than settle behind closed doors. The Apple versus Samsung patent wars are well-documented and have been happening in court rooms all over the world.

One of the more recent cases involves an appeal filed by Samsung against Apple. The Korean electronics giant asked a court to dismiss an order that required it to form over $930 million to Apple for patent infringement. That appeal was filed in December. Samsung argued that the award was off of total profit for all of the phones that infringed upon Apple’s patent rather than just the parts of the phones that infringed.

That battle has lasted for more than three years as Apple accuses Samsung of releasing a phone that’s just like the iPhone because its market share was falling.

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