Peripherals manufacturer Belkin has had its knuckles rapped by Microsoft over alleged patent infringement of its U2 technology.
Yesterday, the software giant filed a patent infringement complaint with the US International Trade Commission, seeking an IP licensing agreement rather than monetary damages. Its U2 technology allows peripherals like mice or keyboards to automatically sense whether a device is plugging into a PS2 or USB port and connect to it
The lawsuit follows two years of attempted, but failed, licensing negotiations with Belkin, according to Microsoft. The software giant says that it offers a 'successful and reasonable' licensing programme for U2. It claims that any attempts to use the technology outside of this licensing regime are unfair on those who take part lawfully, claiming that litigation is only pursued as a last resort.
"A number of companies appreciate the value of U2 technology and pay royalties to Microsoft to legally use this technology," said a Microsoft spokesperson. "For over two years, we have been unable to engage Belkin in meaningful licensing negotiations despite repeated attempts to engage them."
Microsoft launched its intellectual property licensing initiative in March this year. Robbie Bach, president of the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft, said at the time: "Most people think of Microsoft as solely a software company, but we've been a leading hardware innovator and supplier to the desktop peripherals industry for over 20 years.
"The hardware licensing initiative is a first for Microsoft, and we're excited to make our innovations broadly available to others in the industry through licensing."
