Recently, Microsoft Corporation filed a lawsuit in United States district court and with the International Trade Commission, as well, against the TomTom company, which manufactures a range of GPS devices.

The squabble between the two companies has been going on for more than a year, during which there have been attempts at reaching a result through negotiations, yet now Microsoft has come to claim that TomTom infringed on several of its software patents.

Horacio Gutierrez, deputy counsel of intellectual property and licensing at Microsoft, stated that the patents concerned technology related to vehicle navigation, along  with computer software that the company had licensed to other firms.

Gutierrez added that when an agreement was impossible to reach in these sort of matters, Microsoft had no choice but to take legal action in order to protect the company’s innovations, as well as their partners who licensed them.

On their part, the TomTom company stated that it rejected Microsoft’s claims, with the company’s spokesperson Taco Titulare having told Dow Jones Newswires on Thursday that the firm would defend itself.

Nevertheless, Microsoft said that it hoped to solve the issue by coming to an agreement with the Netherlands-based TomTom company although for the time being, the company is seeking unspecified damages and a permanent injunction.

This week, TomTom company reported a EUR989 million loss for the fourth quarter, by virtue of low sales in both the U.S. and Europe, along with a EUR1.1 billion impairment charge resulting from the company's 2007 acquisition of digital map maker Tele Atlas.