Google is a busy company, at one end it is fighting the social war with its Google+ offering going against Facebook, the mobile market is exploding and has seen significant investment from Google over the past few years. With lawsuits related to mobile innovation flying all around, Google is feeling the patent pinch and has made an attempt to strengthen its IP bank by purchasing some patents from IBM. While we don’t have specific information of what patents Google has acquired, but it’s likely that they are in some way related to their mobile OS offering Android.
While Google has majorly avoided being sued directly w.r.t. Android, its partners haven’t been so luckily. HTC is already paying royalty to Microsoft for Android devices and is negotiating with Apple already. Others like Motorola and Samsung are also neck deep in lawsuits. At the same time, Oracle is already claiming billions from Google on the same front.
Google lost a bid to acquire Nortel’s patents portfolio which was picked up by Apple, Microsoft and RIM for as much as $4.5 billion i.e. five times more than Google’s bid. As Google continues to push for a patent system reform, it has taken a small step towards securing itself. We aren’t experts in studying Patent suits and negotiations, but we know for sure, lesser the lawsuits, more the innovation!
