Mueller reports, “There’s a popular belief that all major high tech companies own tons of patents, and many consider Google fairly innovative. But its patent portfolio is dwarved by those of its competitors… The operating system that is the target of more infringement action than any other is Google’s Android.”
“No matter how influential Google may be on the World Wide Web, its patents apparently didn’t deter Oracle from suing. I’m sure Oracle took a close look at Google’s portfolio and determined that there was no risk of a serious counterstrike, or of any at all,” Mueller reports. “If Google could countersue, it might already have a favorable settlement with Oracle in its hands. Since it can’t, it will either have to fend off all seven patents asserted by Oracle (plus any others that Oracle could assert in a second suit), in each case by taking the patent down or proving that there’s no infringement, or it will have to come up with some theory that it was entitled to a license of some sort. Otherwise, Oracle will prevail and the vast majority of Android applications would presumably have to be rewritten. So chances are this will cost Google (and possibly the Android ecosystem at large) dearly.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: And the device assemblers who got totally blindsided by Apple’s iPhone and desperately turned to Google’s “free” Android in a sheer panic will be the ones left holding the bag. HP and even Microsoft and maybe even RIM (we’ll need to see more from them first), all of whom have their own mobile OSes in various stages of readiness, may be in stronger position to sweep up Apple’s table scraps than most people seem to realize. Smart mobile device assemblers will diversify and wean themselves from relying solely on Android in order to minimize their risk. Those that don’t are – *ahem* – courting disaster.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Erwin" for the heads up.]
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