Google sues BT in UK and US over alleged patent infringement

Google has launched legal proceedings in both the UK and US against BT over the alleged infringement, according to reports in the media. Two of the patents concerned relate to the transfer of files over a telecoms network, another relates to a "gateway for an internet telephone system" and the fourth patent covers the "system and method for connection capacity reassignment in a multi-tier data processing system network", according to details about the patents published by the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Google acquired three of the patents from IBM and one from Fujitsu. In papers submitted to a district court in California, the company has claimed that BT's alleged infringement of its patents has "caused and continues to cause severe and irreparable harm" to it. Google is seeking damages from BT over the alleged infringement.

"We have always seen litigation as a last resort, and we work hard to avoid lawsuits," a Google spokesperson said, according to a report by The Register. "But BT has brought several meritless patent claims against Google and our customers - and they've also been arming patent trolls. When faced with these kind of actions, we will defend ourselves."

In 2011 BT initiated court proceedings against Google in Delaware in the US in which it has claimed that the internet giant has infringed six of its patents. The patents BT is seeking to rely on in that case relate to "location-based services, navigation and guidance information and personalised access to services and content", according to a report by the BBC at the time. The case has yet to be resolved.

According to a report on the FOSS Patents blog, Google has previously claimed that an organisation called Suffolk Technologies was suing it "as a front for BT". In addition, the report said that another company called Steelhead Licensing had also recently "asserted" a former BT patent against Google, among other firms.