Skyhook Wireless Suing Google for Patent Infringement on Location Technology2010-09-17 09:45 by DanielaTags: Skyhook, law suit, patent, antitrust
It's said that the larger and more successful you become, the bigger a target you are. That certainly seems to be the case when you are Google, as it would appear the company is facing "a legal trouble a day" lately. Today, it was revealed that two lawsuits have been filed against the tech giant by Skyhook Wireless, a Boston-based company that developed a technology for determining geographical location using WiFi (News - Alert) as the underlying reference system. Using nearby wireless access points (over 250 million of them) and proprietary algorithms, Skyhook says it has created a unique WiFi Positioning System (WPS) that can pinpoint a phone's location within 20 to 30 meters (65 to 95 feet). According to Skyhook, Google licensed the technology in 2005. In addition, at the 2008 Macworld Conference & Expo, Steve Jobs announced that both the iPhone and iPod Touch would use Skyhook's WPS technology as the primary location engine for Google Maps and some other applications. However, in April 2010, Apple stated that with the 3.2 versions of iPhone/iPad software, the devices would no longer use Skyhook but rely on their own proprietary solution. (Note: Apple is not being sued by Skyhook, only Google.) When Google released its Google Location Service technology earlier this year, Skyhook apparently found the technology a little close for comfort. Read more -here-
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