Skyhook Sues Google Over Business Deals

Skyhook Wireless sued Google, alleging the search giant muscled it out of business deals and infringed on its technology for determining the location of cellphones. In a complaint filed in Massachusetts Superior Court, Boston-based Skyhook alleges Google cost it tens of million of dollars by interfering with a contract, announced in April, to put its location technology on Motorola phones. In a separate complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Skyhook alleges Google infringed upon or encouraged infringement of four of its patents. Skyhook competes with Google to provide technology that phones use to get a fix on their position. Precise information about a device's location is seen by many in the industry as a key to developing potentially lucrative advertising and other applications for mobile phones.