Microsoft is likely to win a patent dispute and could force Google to shut down its maps service in Germany. Microsoft claims that Google Maps violates a patent first filed in 1995 and observers say the court tilts in Microsoft’s favor.
“Google has not been able so far to convince the court that the patent is highly probable to be invalidated ... Its pre-trial arguments for a narrower interpretation of the patent did not convince the court either,” Florian Müller of FOSS Patents who attended the March 7 hearing in Munich, Germany writes in his blog. The final decision of the court is expected in May this year.
U.S. Patent No. 6,240,360 on a “computer system for identifying local resources and method therefore,” was first filed in the U.K. in 1995 and describes the process on how to combine search engine results with map data. For the world in 2013 this process is so mundane and trivial that it became second nature for users of Google Maps and other applications.
In 1995, however, it was a revolutionary concept and Microsoft has the title to it. “This is a case of competing companies with competing products,” Judge Matthias Zigann of the Munich I Regional Court told DPA, referring to Microsoft Bing maps.
