Microsoft suit called market-influenced

SEATTLE, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- A Microsoft Corp. patent infringement lawsuit filed in Seattle is an attempt to muscle in on the mobile phone market, a patent attorney said.

Microsoft filed suit against Motorola Inc. for infringing on nine patents involving phones that use Google's Android operating system, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

At the heart of the matter, Google gives its Android mobile phone software to handset makers for free, earning its money later through advertising. Google is also expected to command 16.3 percent of the smartphone market this year while Microsoft's share has dropped from 13 percent in 2008 to 6.8 percent, market research firm IDC said.

Microsoft is suing Motorola, because Google's policy of giving Android away makes it harder to sue Google for damages, given its revenue from Android is indirect, the Journal said.

Patent attorney Mark Kesslen at Lowenstein Sandler, who is not involved in the case, said Microsoft, which is close to launching Windows 7 for mobile phones, was taking "an aggressive posture."

"My gut feeling is Microsoft is losing the handheld wars and they're using their patent portfolio to get some of it back," he said.

Motorola did not comment on the suit, which was filed Friday, but Google did.

"We are disappointed that Microsoft prefers to compete over old patents rather than new products. While we are not a party to this lawsuit, we stand behind the Android platform and the partners who have helped us to develop it," a company spokesman said.