Lawsuits Against Amazon Treble in 2011

Amazon has revealed that a total of 11 companies have filed lawsuits against it since the beginning of 2011, more than three times as many during the whole of last year.

Details of the 20 alleged patent infringements were made public as part of a declaration to US Financial regulators. Claims included disputes over its website personalisation technology, cloud computing and aspects of its Kindle eBook reader.

Amazon will “vigorously defend” itself

Two of these claims have already been dismissed and Amazon has said it disputes the claims and will “vigorously defend” itself against the remaining complaints.

One of these dismissed claims, made by Dutch developer MasterObjects, alleged that Amazon’s drop-down search engine infringed one of its US patents, while another claimant, LVL Patent Group, has an ongoing lawsuit claiming that Amazon’s mobile technology infringes four of its patents.

This marks a huge increase in lawsuits against Amazon. During the whole of 2010, Amazon was sued by just three companies over a total of four patents, of which one was settled. However the recent increase may only foreshadow what is yet to come when Amazon delivers its first tablet, the Kindle Fire, later this year.

Amazon is currently under scrutiny in the USA over its Silk web browser’s ability to track users’ browsing habits and the tablet market is currently flooded with claims and counterclaims, especially against Google’s Android operating system, which the Kindle Fire uses.

Apple has been relentless in its crusade against Android and the Galaxy Tab, which is currently banned from sale in Germany and Australia. In addition, Samsung recently elected to pay Microsoft a royalty on every Android phone it sells rather than face further legal action from the computing giant.

Steve McCaskill

Steve McCaskill is editor of TechWeekEurope and ChannelBiz. He joined as a reporter in 2011 and covers all areas of IT, with a particular interest in telecommunications, mobile and networking, along with sports technology.

Recent Posts

UK Government Partners Anthropic AI To Improve Public Services

Anthropic confirms Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed with UK government to explore use of AI…

2 days ago

ARM Shares Rise Amid Report Meta Will Purchase Its First Chip

British chip designer ARM Holdings is reportedly developing its own chip, and Meta is one…

2 days ago

TikTok Returns To Apple, Google Stores In US

TikTok returns to app stores of both Apple and Google in the United States, after…

3 days ago

Meta To Show Marketplace Ads From Rival Ad Providers

After huge fine, Meta launches 'Facebook Marketplace Partner Program' so rival service providers can list…

3 days ago

Improved Indoor Connectivity Could Add Billions To UK Economy – Survey

New research from Freshwave finds a better mobile signal indoors could grow the UK economy…

3 days ago

Musk Says He Will Withdraw OpenAI Bid If It Remains Non-Profit

Elon Musk says he will abandon $97.4 billion offer to buy the non-profit behind OpenAI…

3 days ago