“Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility will not affect Motorola’s patent-related lawsuits against Apple, as the search company revealed on Monday it has no plans to rescind those legal complaints,” Neil Hughes reports for AppleInsider.
“Motorola will continue to operate as a separate entity under Google, building handsets running Android as it has done before,” Hughes reports. “And the company will also continue to pursue any litigation it is involved in, Google Chief Legal Officer David C. Drummond said in a conference call.”
Hughes reports, “Drummond and other Google executives also declined to talk about the company’s potential legal strategies going forward, now that it is set to own Motorola’s massive patent portfolio. Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha said his company has 17,000 issued patents, and 7,500 patent applications that Google will now control. ‘We will be in a very good position to protect the Android ecosystem for all of our partners,’ Drummond said.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: A mere twelve days ago, patents were “bogus” and a mortal threat to Google’s so-called “innovation,” according to Drummond. Now he wants to use patents to promise “protection” to his soon-to-be-if-not-already-jilted PlayedForeSure “partners.” Sounds like, to Google, the only legitimate patents on earth are the patents for which they can successfully overpay.
Related article:
Google legal honcho: Apple, Oracle, Microsoft use ‘bogus patents’ to wage hostile campaign against sainted Android – August 3, 2011
a lodged cyst is difficult to remove
So is a ‘roid.
ha! made me laugh!
Google being shameless, two-faced, hypocritical thieves as always.
And again, what is the Android ecosystem? If it’s a field infested with weeds, tumbleweeds, then yeah, ok, it is an Android ecosystem.
Apple has an ecosystem. Is Google stealing that concept terminology too?
This proves that google is scared shitless and is trying to bolster the floundering Androd platform.
Even if they bought MM just for the patents, Apple has won, since the paid only 3bn and not 12 bn.
This does not no way make Oracles suit go away, in which recently the judge to google to settle, since they have not a leg to stand on
Apple paid $2.5 billion. Microsoft paid $1 billion. The rest were paid by Sony Ericsson, RIM and EMC. A drop in the ocean compared to $12.5 billion, probably closer to $13 billion, after you factor in all the legal and advisory fees involved.
Google’s stance on patent validity is just as reliable, consistent and principled as their stance on Net Neutrality.
Look if you are Google’s CEO and you are trying to decide whether to buy Motorola for its patents, you have to weigh that decision against any potential litigation losses. What buying Motorola means is that they think paying $12.5B is cheaper than paying all the litigation losses. In other words, they’ve tacitly admitted that they would likely have had to pay more than $12.5B in litigation losses to Oracle, etc. There’s no other way to look at this, as a rational person, unless you are acting irrationally and overbid for Motorola’s patents. Of course, bidding mathematical constants in the Nortel auction could be indicative of irrational whimsy.
The eventual cost to Google of the Motorola takeover will be more than $12.5 billion. First, legal and advisory fees will take it close to $13 billion. Because MMI is a listed entity, the motion to purchase will have to be approved by the shareholders. Then there’s the detailed due diligence work. You’re going to have to appoint a big auditing firm like Deloitte or PriceWaterhouse.
Corporate advisory by an investment bank like Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley typically start at 5% of the total purchase price. This may or may not include legal fees for drafting the takeover memorandum. Then there are regulatory hurdles to consider in that the DOJ might want to look at this from an anti-trust viewpoint as the combined entity will be seen to control a significant portion of the smartphone market, at least in the U.S. (Google supplies 100% of the software).
Post acquisition, Google will need to account for the dilutive impact of consolidating MMI’s losses into their quarterly income statement. Last quarter MMI returned a loss of $56 million. Then there’s the question of what do you do with MMI’s 19,000 employees. How do you merge a culture that is hardware focused with one that is in effect search engine oriented. Post merger costs typically are accretive in the first couple of years as you may have to consider layoffs to reduce headcount, salary realignment, closure of offices, and merging backend functions.
Then you have to think about the distribution network – how do you want to sell the Motorola phones. Do you go ahead and build brick & mortar Google stores? The Nexus One didn’t have full on customer support – you had to send in an email if anything went wrong with your phone. Is Google going to maintain Motorola’s support network?
Then what about capital expenditure to bolster the phone lineup. Surely after having spent $13 billion, Google isn’t going to preserve the status quo because that would mean Motorola, the hardware arm, will fall behind HTC and Samsung. Then what happens if competitive pressures force Motorola into a declining share of the Android pie? Will Google withhold aspects of the ‘open’ Android software from HTC and Samsung to enable Motorola to have a competitive leg up? If Google treats all vendors equally will it sit back and watch Motorola die if it doesn’t innovate the hardware side fast enough? Will Google watch passively on the sidelines as its $13 billion investment goes up in flames? Or will it tilt the playing field in favor of Motorola?
Based on this article, it doesn’t sound like Motorola Mobility’s patent portfolio is very strong.
And handset makers have to experience a chill reading these sentences:
Google could use revenues from its dominant search business to subsidize MMI and, as a result, undercut other handset makers. That kind of outcome would be a nightmare from a competition law point of view because it would distort competition in two markets at the same time. […] don’t overestimate the patent part of the deal. This is about Google maximizing its control over Android […]
Question: Even if some newly acquired Motorola patents impact Apple’s claims in current suits it has against Samsung and HTC, wouldn’t that effect only the Android handsets produced AFTER the patent acquisition? These Motorola patents can only benefit Google’s defense if the plaintiffs attacking Google are potentially infringing on some of those patents. How else could it work?
Patent infringement is examined on a prospective basis not on a retrograde basis. Before you bring an alleged infringer to court you must have served him notice of the type of infringement he has committed, whether patent, copyright ot trademark, cite the patent number and give the infringer sufficient time to remove the infringing part or come to an agreement about licensing fees.
The most Google can do with respect to Apple is to subsume the current legal ongoing case with Apple initiated by Motorola under its docket if it so wishes to but it cannot change the substance of the case or the charge against Apple. Provided of course they don’t dig around and find new violations. Then they have the right as Oracle does with Sun to initiate a new case against Apple.
As a defense mechanism, Google can plead for cross licensing deals with Apple akin to the Nokia settlement. Again they would need to bring new suit for this to happen.
Sanjay Jha- CEO Google Fandroid/Theftware Division
ll of you nerd pricks have to much time on your hands.oh wait,maybe thats why your significant others are getting it on with a real beast like myself.:-)
Oh yeah, right!? Whoever name you had true discernment.