Before we officially start this story, please don’t get this misunderstood Google is NOT suing the US Government over some mysterious patent. Google has filed suit in federal court in Washington DC suing the United States Government, Department of the Interior.
The suit stems from an RFQ (request for quotation) that the Department of the Interior sent out to vendors looking for a messaging solution. In this RFQ the Department of the Inferior clearly stated that the vendor’s solution had to be part of the “Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite”. Because of this requirement the Google Apps suite was not considered as part of this request.
Google is making the argument that this requirement is “unduly restrictive competition”
It seems that Google has a point with this argument. The government did respond to initial inquiries by Google citing that Microsoft had two things that Google did not, which were; “unified/consolidated email” and “enhanced security” both of which Google offers.
It’s worthy to note that watchdog groups are constantly lobbying congress and the federal government over both privacy and monopoly like business practices.
You can go here to see a copy of the lawsuit filed by Google
source: techdirt
