TomTom, a Netherlands-based manufacturer of car navigation products, has slapped Microsoft with a countersuit after the Redmond company initially debuted legal action against it for intellectual property infringement. At the end of February 2009, the software giant introduced legal action against TomTom, emphasizing that the focal point of the lawsuit was not on the patents involving the implementation of the Linux kernel in the devices of the in-car navigation solution maker. In March 2009, TomTom fired back, and filed a countersuit against Microsoft, alleging that the software giant was infringing on no less than four of its patents with the Streets and Trips program.

The countersuit introduced by TomTom in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia is a clear indication that the Netherlands-based company is ready to stand its ground against Microsoft. Back in February 2009, the Redmond company explained that it filed the patent infringement lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Western Washington and with the International Trade Commission (ITC), only after IP negotiations with TomTom had failed. At that time, the software giant revealed that TomTom refused to jump aboard its intellectual property licensing program.

Still, Microsoft is sending out signals that it would much rather settle the patent dispute with a licensing agreement than in court. But considering the latest move from TomTom, the two companies are quite far from sitting down at the negotiations table.

"We are reviewing TomTom's filing, which we have just received. As has been the case for more than a year, we remain committed to a licensing solution, although we will continue to press ahead with the complaints we initiated in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington and the International Trade Commission," revealed Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel of Intellectual Property and Licensing, Microsoft Corporation.