Microsoft on Monday filed suit against Barnes & Noble for patent infringement regarding the retailer's Android-based Nook e-readers.
Microsoft holds patents relating to navigation and how Web sites display content; technology used on the Android platform, the software giant said. Microsoft has tried to come to a licensing agreement with Barnes & Noble regarding its Nook and Nook Color e-readers, but to no avail, the company said. The suit also targets Foxconn and Inventec.
"Unfortunately, after more than a year of discussions, Barnes & Noble, Foxconn and Inventec have so far been unwilling to sign a license, and therefore, we have no other choice but to bring legal action to defend our innovations," Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel for Microsoft, wrote in a blog post.
Microsoft said it has been able to come to an agreement with HTC regarding its Android-based smartphones, as well as with Amazon for its Kindle e-reader. Another holdout, however, is Motorola, which Microsoft also sued for patent infringement in October over its Android phones.
Microsoft filed the Barnes & Noble lawsuit with U.S. International Trade Commission and the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
The company said this is its seventh patent infringement suit in its 36-year history. "We simply cannot ignore infringement of this scope and scale," Gutierrez wrote.
Specifically, the Microsoft patents cover: ways to navigate through information provided by device apps via a separate control window with tabs; display of a webpage's content before the background image is received, allowing users to interact with the page faster; allowing apps to superimpose download status on top of the downloading content; permitting users to select text in a document and adjust that selection; and providing users the ability to annotate text without changing the underlying document.
"By bringing this case, we are protecting our investments on behalf of our customers, partners and shareholders – just as other companies do," Gutierrez wrote. "Our firm view remains, however, that licensing is the best way forward for the industry, and we will continue to prefer the licensing path to litigation."
A Barnes & Noble spokeswoman said the company does not comment on litigation.