Microsoft is currently in settlement talks with Vringo, a small company who deals with software platforms for mobile social and mobile video services. Vringo originally filed a lawsuit against the software giant claiming they violated two patents dealing with search advertising.
Vringo sued Microsoft this past January and claimed Microsoft used Vringo’s own technology on Bing.com, which were covered by two patents, the same patents that Vringo defended in a case with Google, AOL, and other companies the previous year. Vringo and Microsoft are currently in talks to settle this case.
Vringo is accusing Microsoft for infringing on two of its patents that revolve around selecting and positioning advertising on internet search results. Vringo had won $30 million dollars in monetary damages from Google and AOL and was also granted “future royalties” that were estimated at “several hundreds of millions of dollars.” Google, on the other hand, refuses to admit defeat and is trying to appeal.
Microsoft recently launched its own patent tracker to provide “transparency” in the world of patents and urged other companies to do the same. “Transparency around patent ownership will help prevent gamesmanship by companies that seek to lie in wait and “hold up” companies rather than enable a well-functioning secondary market,” Microsoft stated. Too bad its not helping them right now with Vringo.
