A British intellectual property firm is taking Microsoft and Apple to court alleging they have infringed its software patents.

British Technology Group (BTG), representing Richard Reisman and Teleshuttle Technologies, claims Apple and Microsoft have infringed patents covering "web-enabled software update technologies".

BTG claims Microsoft's and Apple's operating systems, and MS Office products, infringe patented technologies. The suit was filed in the Federal Court of Northern California.It seeks unspecified royalty payments for past infringements and injunction against future uses of its software.

A second suit against Microsoft alleges that Active Desktop and parts of its offline browsing technology are in breach of Teleshuttle Technologies patents, according to Reuters.

The legal action follows the failure of licensing talks with the firms. BTG is represented by law firm Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett, and Dunner. ®

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