Google and Microsoft Team Up Against Patent Troll

Microsoft and Google have joined forces to challenge a patent filed by GeoTag, a geolocation technology developer. GeoTag has filed hundreds of patent infringement lawsuits.

In their lawsuit, Microsoft and Google are asking to invalidate GeoTag's patent, which protects a software interface for organizing information based on the geographic location of an object whose data is needed.

Google and Microsoft believe the technology described in the patent, filed in 1999, was widely used before then. GeoTag claims that more than 300 defendants are infringing the patent using Microsoft's Bing Maps and Google Maps services.

The lawsuit against GeoTag states that numerous mapping service customers have turned to Google and Microsoft for assistance. The companies are asking the court to prohibit GeoTag from filing lawsuits against their customers in the future.

As a reminder, this isn't the first time Google and Microsoft have joined forces in patent court. In February, Google filed an Amicus Curiae brief in the patent dispute between Microsoft and the i4i service. This document is filed by a third party not involved in the proceedings but believing that the outcome of the case could impact its interests.