Innovation Asset Blog

French tech security company sues Google and others for Android patent infringement

Digital security firm Gemalto announced Monday it has filed suit against Google, HTC, Motorola and Samsung over allegations that they had used technologies patented by the French company for the Android smartphone operating system.

"This lawsuit is necessary to protect our investment in innovation," a Gemalto spokesman said. "The technologies we develop and associated intellectual property rights are essential to Gemalto's future. It is our commitment to our employees, customers, partners and shareholders to protect those innovations from companies who ignore Gemalto's intellectual property rights."

According to Gemalto, the development platform for the Android system makes use of the tech company's Java Card - a patented technology that allows Java-written programs to operate on mobile phones.

However, the Java Card was developed in the 1990s as a means for programs written with high-level programming languages to be used on "resource constrained devices." Although a mobile phone constitutes such a device, it is likely that these definitions will be a central issue in the coming lawsuit.

Google and the other defendants have not yet commented on the allegations.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.