Nearly all of the dozens of lawsuits Google has previously faced have come from “patent trolls,” patent holding companies set up quickly—often in East Texas—to pursue a patent infringement lawsuit. Even the few small operating companies like Netlist and GraphOn that have wielded their patents against Google don’t really compete with the company.
Skyhook’s patent complaint is a different matter altogether. Not only is the company an actual rival to Google, its infringement suit is part of a two-pronged attack on the search giant that plays into broader criticism that the company is too dominant in certain fields, and deserves antitrust scrutiny.
