TomTom countersues Microsoft

GPS maker TomTom hit back at Microsoft yesterday by issuing a countersuit against the software giant with a patent claim of its own.

The move follows Redmond’s decision last month to sue the Dutch manufacturer for infringement of eight Microsoft patents.

TomTom filed the countersuit in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on Monday. The firm accused Microsoft’s Streets and Trips products of infringing four patents in TomTom’s vehicle navigation software.

Microsoft confirmed on 25 February it was suing the GPS vendor. It said it had issued the lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington and with the International Trade Commission, after TomTom refused to have licensing talks with MS.

"We are reviewing TomTom's filing, which we have just received,” said Microsoft’s intellectual property and licensing deputy general counsel Horacio Gutierrez yesterday.

"As has been the case for more than a year, we remain committed to a licensing solution, although we will continue to press ahead with the complaints we initiated in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington and the International Trade Commission." ®