March 30th, 2009
TomTom surrenders to Microsoft in patent fight
With TomTom unwilling to go beyond what is in Microsoft’s press release, it seems pretty clear the company has surrendered to the company’s patent demands.
A TomTom spokesman confirmed to me just now that TomTom will not post a release on the settlement to its own Web site, leaving the final terms as follows:
- Patent cross-licensing with TomTom paying Microsoft and Microsoft getting TomTom’s patents.
- TomTom removing its FAT LFN support from its product within two years.
- TomTom claims its actions are in compliance with GPLv2.
The Software Freedom Law Center has not yet hired a patent attorney, a job search it began online March 4, and the Open Innovation Network has not gone beyond its acceptance of TomTom’s membership, alongside that of Novell, released March 23.
So that’s it, then. TomTom folded like a house of cards. They went down almost as fast as a Busybox defendant.
Anyone have something to add?
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for 30 years, a tech freelancer since 1983. You can follow Dana on Twitter. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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| 03/30/09
