Week 5: Waze and Google vs. Makor

On Monday, February 22, the popular (and relatively new) navigation app Waze and subsequently, its owner Google, were sued in Delaware federal court by the Israeli-based Makor Issues and Rights Limited. Makor sued Waze and Google on the grounds that Waze is infringing on two of Makor's patents:

1) 6,480,783: Real time vehicle guidance and forecasting system under traffic jam conditions
2) 6,615,130: Real time vehicle guidance and traffic forecasting system

Makor claims to have owned these patents since the early 2000s so they knew that Waze and Google's developers were well aware of their claims. However, these patents regarding traffic monitoring technology which enables drivers to avoid traffic jams, are the pinnacle features of behind Waze's success. This is the exact reason I use Waze when driving because it gives you a constant up-to-date traffic guide that takes into account issues happing in that exact moment which helps you avoid traffic and accidents on your route. Its constantly updating and altering your fastest and most efficient route.

Since the case is pretty much brand new the exact details aren't entirely outlined yet. But what we do know is that Makor's hopefull outcome includes "an unspecified amount of damages, payment of attorney’s fees, and a judgment that Google and Waze have infringed Makor’s intellectual property."

This case will be really interesting to follow as time goes on since we know Google is no amateur in the patent litigation world and the fact that Makor is based in Israel will add an extra factor. Plus, unlike other patent cases we've studied, Makor is not a patent troll company so fighting for your own intellectual property may change the dynamic quite a bit.