Gemalto sues Google, HTC, Samsung, over Android's Java tech

Dutch security company Gemalto has sued Google, HTC, Motorola and Samsung over technologies contained in Dalvik, the Java implementation within the Android operating system.

In a statement on its website, issued on October 25, Gemalto said "Gemalto'™s patented technologies are fundamental to running software, developed in a high level programming language such as Java, on a resource constrained device. Gemalto is recognized as a pioneer and ground-breaking contributor to the JavaCard - one of the devices for which the patented technologies were conceived."

JavaCard is a tightly constrained implementation of Java designed to run on smart cards and other restricted environments. Although Gemalto hasn't specified which patents are involved, it says that they were developed in Texas - where the patent suit has been filed - in the 1990s.

Gemalto was formed in 2006 in a merger between smart card companies Axalto and Gemplus. It makes most of its revenues from mobile phone SIM cards, but is also active in chip-and-pin and other financial areas. It recently announced third quarter 2010 revenues of 500 million euros, up from 400 million in Q3 2009.