Oh hell yes, I love these historical refs that explain why things went in a certain direction that still effect us today. It didn't ALL start in Steve's Mom's garage....
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Google Claims a 'Hostile, Organized Campaign Against Android'
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I'm assuming nothing. I countered the assumptions by other posters that Google's refusal to join the consortium were out of greed with possibilities that it wasn't out of greed. The plain fact is we don't know why they refused it, there is no need to go all "negative nancy" about it and assume they are greedy and out to make a buck.
You are right we have no idea what they wanted to do with them, just like we have no idea what the other groups are going to do with them. But one can't help but think with this type of behavior from Google they are being sore losers regarding this.
Common sense goes a long way...I think it's far more likely it was out of greed and not a "how could we face our oems if they violate our patents...gasp!" scenario...
The whole "we're smarter then them" crap is dumb too
I thought Google was pretty clear about why the refused to join the consortium. They wanted the patents to protect Android against patents that Android already violates. If they would have joined the consortium, they wouldn't have been able to use them against the other parties in the consortium, like Apple and Microsoft, that already have patents that Android violates.
Basically, they are trying to buy enough patents to force cross-licensing deals to cover up their current infringement.
You bring up a valid point but Google is not a "middle aged" company that has a history of patent acquisition and suppression. This has happened in many other companies and industries so I'm familiar with it. There are hundreds of energy production patents that keep on getting extended and no product coming from it.
My take is that Google when it alone cause they are still a "teenager" of a company doing well and hasn't been past a major paradigm crisis that can define a corporate culture. Now, they are feeling a squeeze from "everyone picking on them" and expressing the frustration.
Oddly, schoolyard behavior is very analogous to company interaction in Corporate America at times.
Sure, to some extent. Apple also has a large number of patents that they use for this purpose that they have developed internally. I don't have a problem with what Google was trying to do.
I do have a problem with their current infringement and their hypocrisy in calling the patents that they lost bogus. I was also questioning KnightWRX's explanation of Google's motives in turning down the consortium, since their statement made it pretty clear why they chose not to join.
Did you type that with a straight face?
Yes, indeed I did. Since there's a lot of precedent in Google's case for it. VP8 being one recent you might know about.
Might want to tone it done here a notch or two, you were pretty objective in the Blu-ray thread, not so much in this case it seems. Your emotional response towards Google could be betraying a certain bias here.
the consortium doesn't own the patents, apple does and RIM and MS have a perpetual license. Google would have had to cut a deal to share ownership.
either way Google's way of doing things is to grab other people's data without permission and make the high margin profits off it leaving everyone else with crumbs. paying for patents is probably a joke at google
That's mere speculation, and quite unlikely at that. More likely the patents were split into different buckets, with different entities owning different stakes.
The only thing this will do is Motorola phones will now have "pure Android interface" instead of Android with the Motoblur interface on top. Now, whether this means we'll see Motorola phones that can run on GSM networks is something else, though.
Yes, it does. Now Google has its own patent portfolio to bring to the fight.
I used to think that software patents were a really dumb invention of lawyers to make work for themselves, but now, I have to wonder if all patents have outlived their usefulness. The only area of human endeavor where patents still serve their original purpose is in the pharmaceutical industry, and, even there, patents tend to lead to a lot more versions of Lipitor than they do to more pressing, but less profitable, needs.
Can anyone prove that patents in electronics are an actual economic benefit? (Produce more investment and new technology than they consume in market distortion and legal costs?)
There is research to support that. And the number of tech patents does correlate to the rate of innovation in the electronics industry (you can argue about cause and effect, but researchers generally agree that patents continue to produce investments in R&D).
The problem is none of those patents help Google against their two biggest legal challenges. Oracle and the FTC/EU Regulators.
I don't think you get it. Its not in Google's interest to prop up Motorola yet screw over their partners. Buying Motorola Mobility was to keep Android platform from being sued by Apple/Microsoft/Nokia, etc.
Nothing much will change, other than the fact that it will be MUCH harder to sue Google now.
/facepalm
and why are Android hardware manufacturers not worried over this?
Apple folks just don't understand now Google's business model works.
Google wants Android OS on as MANY phones as possible, including HTC, Samsung, LG, Sony Ericcson, even Nokia at one point.
By restricting favorability to just Motorola is like Google shooting itself in the foot. It doesn't make business sense.
What else are the other mfg's going to say?
And, again, please explain to me why they didn't just buy the patents and license them back to moto? It would have cost them a lot less and they wouldn't be competing with their other licensees.
They could have easily all made press releases all 'against' this move. But it looks like they got the approval of all the Android handset makers. Yay GOOG!
Additionally, if they sell all their patents, then the mere existence of Motorola Mobility is non-existent. Can a company even operate without owning any patents at all? Doubtful.
Not only that, but in my personal opinion, GOOG will be getting into the Set Top Box business, something that Motorola is heavily involved in already
The 'mobile war' will now soon be the 'TV war'
mark my words
Of course they can. They just need to be licensed to the patents they actually use.