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Google Claims a 'Hostile, Organized Campaign Against Android'

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Apr 12, 2001
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Google believes Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and other companies are waging a "hostile, organized campaign against Android" though "bogus patents", according to a post on the Official Google Blog:
They're doing this by banding together to acquire Novell's old patents (the "CPTN" group including Microsoft and Apple) and Nortel's old patents (the "Rockstar" group including Microsoft and Apple), to make sure Google didn't get them; seeking $15 licensing fees for every Android device; attempting to make it more expensive for phone manufacturers to license Android (which we provide free of charge) than Windows Mobile; and even suing Barnes & Noble, HTC, Motorola, and Samsung. Patents were meant to encourage innovation, but lately they are being used as a weapon to stop it.
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The post, written by David Drummond, Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer at Google, also attacks Microsoft and Apple's $4.5 billion winning bid for Nortel's portfolio (which is currently under investigation by the Department of Justice on antitrust grounds), saying the patent war is "escalating the cost of patents way beyond what they're really worth." Google's final losing bid for Nortel's patent assets was around $4 billion.

A few weeks ago, it was rumored that Apple and Google were weighing competing bids for InterDigital, a mobile-technology firm that has an extensive wireless patent portfolio. That portfolio could sell for billions as well.

Article Link: Google Claims a 'Hostile, Organized Campaign Against Android'
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/08/03/google-claims-a-hostile-organized-campaign-against-android/
I bet Google wouldn't feel the same way if Apple was infringing on it's search patents.
 
Anyone who thinks Apple plays a fair game is a clown. I own all Apple computers, but if they don't show consideration for anyone but themselves soon, that will be coming to an end.
 
And what exactly was Google going to do with the patents had they of won them for $4B? Share them with Microsoft and Apple for free?
 
I read an opinion piece somewhere a few weeks back about how Google has, historically, not been too worried about patents in the way other companies are. They have some, sure, but their executives don't see them as something worth acquiring from other companies as a strategic advantage.

The writer of that piece was hoping that all the recent patent problems might make Google wake up and work towards changing the patent laws in this country since they'd benefit greatly from such changes. The article was hoping something like that would happen as Google has the power to actually do something about it.

I can see that the writer was correct that Google would start feeling squeezed. Unfortunately, he was wrong about what they'd do about it. I guess "crying like a hurt baby" didn't cross his mind at the time.

EDIT: I found the blog.
 
Buying patents to incorporate the technology into your own products sounds legitimate. Buying patents to use to litigate against your competitors and try to squeeze them out is idiotic (that its legal, not that companies try to do it). If the original owner did not pursue infringement claims, the buyers should not be able to either.
ck2875 said:
And what exactly was Google going to do with the patents had they of won them for $4B? Share them with Microsoft and Apple for free?
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Like Google or hate them, they are not patent fiends and do less to protect their current products and more to create new ones than many of their competitors/other big tech companies. I think they wanted them mostly in order to protect themselves, and possibly also to have a deterrent from having more suits filed against them.
 
The bigger picture is if these patents do in fact raise prices for Android devices. We do not want this. As much as I like Apple devices, it is companies like Google that keep the competition up and prices down. The more Apple gains in patents and lawsuits, the worse it is for the consumer.
 
If technology patents were "real-world" we'd see patents on things like doors (a device used to temporarily open a solid structure to allow the passage of items).

We need patent reform when it comes to technology and we need it soon.
 
So let me get this straight, Google is angry somebody else than them bought the patents? Isn't the point of a free market that anyone can compete for the same product?
 
Consider Suing Me?

lilsoccakid74 said:
Anyone who thinks Apple plays a fair game is a clown. I own all Apple computers, but if they don't show consideration for anyone but themselves soon, that will be coming to an end.
Click to expand...

Let's assume for a minute that you're a professional artist. You create a very nice painting. I take a picture of it and start selling postcards with your painting on the back.

Would you show me some "consideration" and not sue me?
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8J2)

Somebody call a waa-mbulance!
 
This post by Google is pure propaganda.

Simple questions for Google:

If the patents are "dubious", why were you willing to pay $4 billion for them?

If they are not all dubious, why do you think you and your partners should be able to implement them for free?
 
Poor Google. Just sad ain't it.
I've never seen a bid winner bitch and complain - it's always the losers. No surprise here. Nothing to see. Move along.
 
All is fair in love and war. Google's Schmidt sat on Apple's board and with that knowledge was able to change Google's phone OS plans to better compete with iPhone.

If Apple has to fight back by using its patent portfolio I am all for it. If it were Jobs on Google's board and he changed some product based on inside knowledge your damn sure Google would be fighting back as well.
 
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