Google's Got Microsoft In A Headlock: Pay $4 Billion A Year Or Stop Selling Xbox

This is clearly Apples fault.

What is stopping Microsoft from releasing the next gen Xbox? One that doesn't infringe on the tech patents?

This has nothing to do with being brilliant.

The xBox is a great product, and it's pretty clear Google is only trying to stop competitors and make motorola's acquisition seem "worth it".

When Apple sues someone, it's only (usually) related to things that make their products (Apple's) better and unique (multi-touch, design, UI animations, etc). Motorola and Samsung (usually) are attacking with FRAND patents and similar stuff. That's being evil.

They should be punished. I hope Microsoft gives a lesson to Google.

It's a tit-for-tat situation to me. It's fairly well known that MS is bleeding Android manufacturers dry through patent licensing. Looking at this, it seems like Google is trying to turn the game around on MS in an attempt to get some leverage against them.

It's not evil. Just the way business is done in todays patent heavy world.

gto55 said:

Microsoft says that Motorola Mobility wants to charge it $4 billion A YEAR in royalties for patents Motorola holds on WiFi and video technology.

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Yes, Google has turned into a patent troll. There are about 2,000 patents on h.264. Most of them are licensed quite cheaply to everyone; I think the number that I heard was Microsoft having paid all in all around $80 million in license fees for 2,000 patents. Now Google has bought Motorola with half a dozen patents, and their half a dozen patents are supposedly worth $4 billion a year.

A big **** you to Google for that.

By the way, that's the same Google who cried foul after they bought O2, with headlines on Ars Technica in 2010 saying "Google wants to nuke h.264 with WebM", where they tried without success to force the whole world to use their sub-standard VP8 codec, and then it was just mentioned that just maybe VP8 was infringing on one or two of those 2000 h.264 patents and that Google could license these patents under the same terms as everyone else.

So charging Google a few million dollars is EEEEVILLLLL but Google trying to blackmail Microsoft for $4billion is just fine with you?

roadbloc said:

What is stopping Microsoft from releasing the next gen Xbox? One that doesn't infringe on the tech patents?

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What stops the h.264 licensors from charging similar rates to anyone wanting to run h.264 on an OS created by Google? Actually, what stops two dozen patent holders who own more h.264 patents than Google/Motorola from each demanding that amount of money? Bye bye video on Android.

What are the wireless patents in question? Wireless has been in computers for over a decade. If Microsoft is buying a wireless chip from a licensed manufacturer I don't see how Google would have a leg to stand on.

Don't Be Evil.

gnasher729 said:

What stops the h.264 licensors from charging similar rates to anyone wanting to run h.264 on an OS created by Google? Actually, what stops two dozen patent holders who own more h.264 patents than Google/Motorola from each demanding that amount of money? Bye bye video on Android.

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Well since wireless devices have been selling for quite some time with no issue, I'd say the patents in question aren't literally wireless antennas but rather something like design tweaks for performance improvements or maybe the way it interacts with the software.

Its up to Microsoft to decide whether its worth $4 Billion a year.

It will never ever happen. Google is in much worse violations of patents then Microsoft is.

pedromartins said:

This has nothing to do with being brilliant.

The xBox is a great product, and it's pretty clear Google is only trying to stop competitors and make motorola's acquisition seem "worth it".

When Apple sues someone, it's only (usually) related to things that make their products (Apple's) better and unique (multi-touch, design, UI animations, etc). Motorola and Samsung (usually) are attacking with FRAND patents and similar stuff. That's being evil.

They should be punished. I hope Microsoft gives a lesson to Google.

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You mean like Apple BS slide to unlock patents or the list of patents of Apple that have been declared invalid?

They are evil trying to make companies ike Apple pay up for the use of FRAND patents apple has not been paying for?

Renzatic said:

It's a tit-for-tat situation to me. It's fairly well known that MS is bleeding Android manufacturers dry through patent licensing. Looking at this, it seems like Google is trying to turn the game around on MS in an attempt to get some leverage against them.

It's not evil. Just the way business is done in todays patent heavy world.

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sad but true. I see this as more to force MS to back off on its Android attack. Also Moto refused to pay up to MS and they are still locked in a case over that.