It's not a media company like Viacom this time, but a small software company that alleges Google took its idea and bundled it into Google Apps.

An Illinois court may decide whether or not the Google Email Uploader infringes on technology developed by LimitNone. With a potential market of 50 million users at $19 per license evaporating with the debut of Google's competing product, LimitNone wants a piece of the action.

CNET said LimitNone filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois against Google. The company contends its product, renamed gMove at Google's suggestion, helped Google overcome problems with migrating data from Microsoft Outlook to Gmail.

LimitNone may have issues beyond the potential loss of the market within Google Apps Premier Edition. Google released the Email Uploader as an open source product:

It is Apache 2.0 licensed open source software, and is governed by the terms of the included license file. This means you may modify the tool to better suit your needs.

If LimitNone's trade secrets were used in Email Uploader, any developer can view them, or at least Google's take on them, in the freely available source code for the product.

Source: www.webpronews.com