Microsoft is continuing its fight against Android… not just by focusing on Windows tablets and Windows Phone 7 smartphones, but also by taking legal action against companies producing Android devices that Microsoft says are in violation of the company’s patents. Last year Microsoft sued Motorola over patent infringement in some Motorola smartphones. Now Microsoft has announced that it’s filed legal actions against Barnes & Noble, Inventec, and Foxconn.

The Barnes & Noble NOOK and NOOKcolor eBook readers are both powered by Google Android. Microsoft says the “Android platform infringes a number of Microsoft’s patents,” and is seeking to have Foxconn and Barnes & Noble license Microsoft’s intellectual property for use in the tablets.

Foxconn and Inventec are the Taiwanese manufacturers that build the NOOK devices for Barnes & Noble… as well as a pretty large percentage of the consumer electronics available in the West.

It’s too early to say whether this action could kill the Barnes & Noble NOOKcolor or raise the price of the Android tablet and eBook reader. But if you’re in the market for a $249 Android tablet, now might be a good time to pick one up.

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7 replies on “Microsoft sues Foxconn, Inventec Barnes & Noble for patent infringement in Android devices”

  1. It is like when Microsoft went after Linux and the companies that put it on computers. Linux is still around. With Linux, I don’t remember Microsoft actually listing the patents that Linux violated. Linux programers wanted to know so they could remove them from Linux but Microsoft never really revealled which ones were being violated. I wonder if this is the same situation.

  3. This is bull. If B&N has to up it’s price due and it is still on shaky ground what will this do to them? Could this put them out for good?

  5. Yeah right. . . this is Microsoft attempting to do the same thing Apple tried to do with HTC. Their devices are getting blown out of the water by Android devices so they file a few law suits thinking that will scare everyone off. Notice they didn’t go after Google or any of the big boys.

    1. Bullies gonna bull.

      Reminds me a bit of how copyright groups go after the tiny torrent sites but leave the big ones alone. (I know, not directly comparable, but the methodology is similar.)

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