Monday, March 30, 2009

Microsoft, TomTom Settle Patent Suit

Microsoft and TomTom, a manufacturer of GPS navigation hardware, said Monday that the two have settled a patent infringement case. According to the two, TomTom will pay Microsoft for a license to eight car navigation and file management system patents, and Microsoft will receive a license to four patents owned by TomTom. As part of the agreement, the firms also said that TomTom will remove functionality related to its filesystems in its Linux source code--which are covered by the Linux General Public License, version 2 (GPLv2). Microsoft sued TomTom in February, and TomTom counter-sued Microsoft earlier this month over the patents.