Google counter sues BT over patent infringement
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Google counter sues BT over patent infringement

Internet giant Google has launched a countersuit against UK carrier BT and reseller Ipanema Technologies relating to four conferencing and quality of service patents.

Google filed the suit in the US District Court from the Central District of California and plans to serve BT with papers today.

The patents are labeled 581,703; 5,701,465; 6,807,166; and 7,460,558 and refer specifically to enterprise services run over BT’s IP network.

Google's suit is in response to patent claims made by BT in December 2011 but not related to the same services, according to Techcrunch. BT is suing Google over patent infringement related to the Android operating system.

“We have always seen litigation as a last resort, and we work hard to avoid lawsuits. But BT has brought several meritless patent claims against Google and our customers – and they’ve also been arming patent trolls. When faced with these kind of actions, we will defend ourselves,” a Google spokesperson told Techcrunch.

BT's suit is said to involve the selling of patents on to a third party for them to file a suit against Google. From this BT would get a cut of any proceeds from patent suits or licences related to the patents. Google has already been sued by Suffolk Technologies in this regard.

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