British Telecom accuses Google of copyright infringement

British telecommunications company British Telecom (BT) has accused Google of infringing patents on technologies it owns.

British Telecom cites six patents in its lawsuit against Google. The suit was filed in the United States District Court for the State of Delaware.

In particular, British Telecom believes that its patents are violated in Google services such as maps, search, the Google+ social network and the Offers discount service, in the Android operating system for mobile devices and the Android Market application store.

British Telecom is now the sixth major global company to sue Google. The lawsuit alleges Google is infringing patents covering navigation information systems, long-distance communication equipment, and cloud-based location data storage and retrieval. British Telecom obtained these patents between 2000 and 2004.

The British company is demanding compensation and an injunction preventing Google from further operating these services. Google has called the claims unfounded.

The Android platform has recently become the primary target of lawsuits from various IT companies. Microsoft, in particular, receives licensing fees from many Android smartphone manufacturers.

Interestingly, back in 2000, British Telecom tried to claim exclusive rights to all hypertext links on the Internet, citing a 1989 patent for a "hidden page system."