A software developer is charging that the use of the name Android by Google and partners in the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) is a violation of his company’s trademark.
Erich Specht of Palatine, Ill., and his company Android Data Corp. filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Chicago seeking nearly $100 million in damages for trademark infringement, according to various media reports.
Specht trademarked the name Android in 2002; reports say when Google applied for a similar right, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2008 rejected it.
A Google spokesman told Bloomberg today that the claims are without merit.