Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen refiles suit against Google, others

By Chris Kerrigan
published

Google is no stranger to lawsuits, and they will have yet another on their hands it appears. Paul Allen, the Co-Founder (and least spoken about) of Microsoft filed an amended lawsuit against Google, and 10 other companies including Apple, Yahoo and Facebook, for allegedly infringing on patents involving how notifications are delivered to the end-user.

The lawsuit --which was thrown out last week before being refiled -- specifically targets Android and how it handles notifications such as text messages and instant messages. Paul Allen allegedly owns patents that allow for "unobtrusive on-screen alerts," which is arguably what Android provides by way of the notification bar. We won't be surprised if this turns into another long drawn-out legal dispute that eventually gets settled out of court, or dropped completely. Will this affect how Android delivers notifications in the future? Share your thoughts in the comments! [via PCMag]

Chris Kerrigan
Chris Kerrigan
18 Comments
  • No not at all
    Android had it first for real
  • he's sueing because he needs money, that's all.
  • well, i guess Apple's safe this round. as anyone can plainly see, their on-screen alerts are anything but "unobtrusive".
  • Show me the money!
  • My bet is this gets tossed too. Unobtrusive on screen alerts existed well before any of Allen's patents in everything from Mainframe IBM systems(CICS) to Unix systems. Emacs had this since the Pleistocene.
  • Hey...if I was smart enough to own patents like that...I would do the same thing. If he invented and patented it then anyone who uses the technology or idea owes him royalties.
  • The thing is, from what I understand, there is no code or anything specific to this nonsense. It is just an idea. If these companies ripped off specific patented code from this weasel then there would be a case. He came up with nothing, an idea is only good if it is made into something, these companies were smart enough to make it into something and no doubt have patents on how it's done. I have an idea, I should goto a patent office and apply, that is if Paul Allen doesn't own it already. This guy just saw that there was potential in the mobile market, made patents of things that were already being done by pc's and added "mobile" to it. He has not contributed to the mobile movement at all and should be flogged for trying to rip off hard working innovative companies.
  • You can patent ideas...
  • Actually, the federal government says you can. And i patented that comment you just made a year ago. See you in court. But in all seriousness, this is a bunch of crap.
  • Software patents are a cancer upon innovation.
  • Yo Paul Allen, I'm really happy for you, #imaletyoufinish, but Android has the best notifications of all time.
  • So when you can't beatm'em or even match'em , just sue'em? Pretty pathetic lol.
  • The drop down window shade is awesome in android. But this Guy will prolly get rich from it. I have a Pre also, this has been coming according to Palmcast.
  • @hansonator I'm not an expert in patent law but I don't believe you can patent just an idea. You have to provide something like code, blueprints, schematics, etc. Again...not an expert though....
  • I have a patent for using the color blue as the first letter in a name. I'm suing Google for 10 million dollars. Just as stupid as Mr Allen's suit.
  • windoze is dead so gotta do something
  • Sorry to say a notification lawsuit makes about as much sense as Ford suing Chevy and Chrysler for using 4 wheels on their car design too.
  • Funny I was going to say the exact same thing! This will get thrown out again, it seems he does need money, almost every major cell company are suing each other lately and it's ridiculous.