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How many Apple and Microsoft patents has Android infringed?

By
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
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By
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
Down Arrow Button Icon
September 27, 2012, 8:36 AM ET

FORTUNE — In July, FOSS Patents‘ Florian Mueller looked at the number of major publicly traded companies that have filed patent infringement suits against devices running on Google’s (GOOG) Android platform (seven with a total market cap of $1.06 trillion) and the number of Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT) patents Android devices have been found by a court to infringe (11 as of July 1).

On Wednesday, Mueller updated his list of Apple and Microsoft patent infringements. The total, adjusted for rulings that have gone both for and against Android devices, is now 17. (See list below.)

“Android continues to be an IP infringement lawsuit magnet,” Mueller wrote in July. “As an Android user, I would like to see Google address those problems more effectively. When I look at public statements made by Google officials, it sometimes seems that the company is, at different levels, in a state of denial concerning Android’s intellectual property issues.”


Schmidt in Seoul

As if on cue, Google chairman Eric Schmidt weighed in from Seoul, where according to the Korea Times he was “rap[ping] Apple for patent trolling” at a Nexus 7 launch event:

“Patent wars prevent choice, prevent innovation and I think that is very bad. We are obviously working through that and trying to make sure we stay on the right side of these issues. So ultimately Google stands for innovation as opposed to patent wars.”

Below the fold: A summary of Mueller’s list.

1. EP2059868 The “photo gallery page-flipping” patent. (Apple )

2. U.S. Patent No. 7,469,381 The “overscroll bounce” or “rubber-banding” patent. (Apple)

3. U.S. Design Patent No. D618,677 An iPhone-related design patent. (Apple)

4. U.S. Patent No. 5,946,647 The “data tapping” patent. (Apple)

5. EP1964022 The first slide-to-unlock patent. (Apple)

6. U.S. Patent No. 6,370,566 Generating meeting requests and group scheduling on a mobile device. (Microsoft)

7. EP1304891 Communicating multi-part messages. (Microsoft)

8. U.S. Design Patent No. D504,889 An iPad-related design patent. (Apple)

9. U.S. Patent No. 8,086,604 Siri-style unified search. (Apple)

10. U.S. Patent No. 8,046,721 The second slide-to-unlock patent. (Apple)

11. U.S. Patent No. 8,074,172 An autocorrect patent. (Apple)

12. EP0618540 A common name space for long and short filenames. (Microsoft)

13. U.S. Design Patent No. D539,087 On an “electronic device.” (Apple)

14. U.S. Patent No. 7,844,915 Pinch-to-zoom. (Apple)

15. U.S. Patent No. 7,864,163 “Tap-to-zoom.” (Apple)

16. U.S. Design Patent No. D604,305 The arrangement of icons. (Apple)

17. EP1040406 Soft input panel. (Microsoft)

You can read Mueller’s descriptions of the court rulings here.

About the Author
By Philip Elmer-DeWitt
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