As if Oracle's, Microsoft's, and Apple's [1] [2] suits weren't giving Android enough headache, today, Gemalto, an Amsterdam-based digital security company, added some fuel to the flames by filing a patent infringement suit against Google and its partners HTC, Samsung, and Motorola. The suit claimed that Android and the Dalvik operating environment incorporated Gemalto's patented Java Card technology without the company's permission.

The Wall Street Journal explained in more detail:

According to the complaint on the website of the U.S. law firm hired by Gemalto, McKool Smith, the Java Card Technology enables Java applications and applications developed in other high level programming languages to run on resource-constrained devices such as smart cards and mobile phones. The complaint says that the Mountain View, California-based Internet search giant Google develops and actively distributes to application developers and device manufacturers what it refers to as the "Android Platform", which incorporates Gemalto's patented Java Card Technology without its permission. The complaint also says Taiwan's HTC, U.S. telecommunications company Motorola and Korean company Samsung Electronics make, use, sell and offer to sell Android Devices having the Android Operating System and Android Applications, including mobile phones.

Does Gemalto have a case or will Google fight back like it did when it pledged to fight Oracle? Let's wait for defendants' official statements and find out.

Sources: WSJ, Reuters