Skyhook Sues Google – Analyst Blog

Boston-based Skyhook Wireless Inc., which provides location-tracking services, recently filed a lawsuit against Google Inc. (GOOG), alleging the search giant used strong-arm tactics to pressure phone-makers against using Skyhook’s mapping technology.

 

The lawsuit, filed in the Massachusetts state court, accuses Google of stopping Motorola (MOT) from using Skyhook’s technology in its Android-based smartphones. The suit alleges an executive from Google told Motorola Chief Executive Sanjay Jha that Motorola could not ship an Android phone with Skyhook’s location-tracking technology. The executive from Google insisted Motorola used Google’s location technology, too, in its Android handsets. 

 

To Skyhook’s dismay, Motorola’s Android phones did not contain the Skyhook technology when Motorola began shipping these devices in mid-July. Skyhook and Motorola had signed the contract in April. In the lawsuit, Skyhook alleges the loss of the business deal cost it tens of millions of dollars. In the lawsuit, Skyhook also says another company with which it had entered into a contract did not use its location technology. Motorola and Google did not comment on the lawsuit.

 

At the heart of the issue is software that helps pin-point a customer’s whereabouts. Many in the industry consider this information goldmine since it helps companies send ads to the customer’s cell phones based on where they are located. Nevertheless, the suit comes at a time when federal regulators have their eyes fixed on Google’s business practices. The search giants’ do-no-evil pledge is often coming under scrutiny even as many wonder if there is another side to Google that is all but fair.   

 

Amid all this, Skyhook has had its own share of problems. In July, the company had announced that Apple Inc. (AAPL) had stopped using the company’s location technology in its iPhones. Skyhook provided the location-tracking software in millions of iPhones since 2008 but Apple recently started using its own location technology in its iPhones.

 

In a separate lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Skyhook accused Google’s mapping technology infringes on four of its patents.