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After all, it seems Google bought Motorola for patents and attacking Apple and co'. I know, Google is not directly suing Apple, but the act of giving those pate

• kgen 15y ago
  Likewise, Apple doesn't directly sue Google over Android, but does so indirectly through all the manufacturers right?
  • X-Istence 15y ago
    Isn't that because Android itself doesn't infringe but certain aspects of the Android phones or the way said manufacturer has implemented the software does infringe?
    • barista 15y ago
      Not true. It's the android that infringes on the patents not the hardware.
• blinkingled 15y ago
  Not just Motorola - Google gave HTC the patents they bought from Palm and OpenWave too. That is interesting to say the least - I hadn't heard of this kind of arrangement before.
  • ryanhuff 15y ago
    If that's the case, it's hard to say that htc lost anything considering the patents were given to them. This all seems very cynical.
    • blinkingled 15y ago
      I don't know about cynical but it is unusual for sure - Google is showing huge amount of trust in selling what seem to be important 9 patents - HTC could in theory dump Android tomorrow for WP7 and go suing Samsung using those same patents for example. Or may be Google has some crafty term of sale that prohibits HTC from suing anyone using Android. The other oddity is that those same patents are now off the table for any other Android OEM to use to sue Apple or Microsoft. Was HTC the weakest one and so Google felt giving them those patents was a balancing act and other vendors are having their own credible patents to not need these 9. We will never know I think.
• chollida1 15y ago
  Microsoft and Nokia are doing the same thing as Google with a company called Mosaid. This lets Google and Microsoft sue other companies over patent issues without actually doing it themselves. it seems to be the new style of patent warfare.
  • pohl 15y ago
    The Cold War proxy-war model applied to patent suits.
    • pcj 15y ago
      how does proxy war help? the one who is sued knows that the company who's suing them is just a proxy for XYZ
      • barista 15y ago
        But the liabilities are limited I guess?
      • pohl 15y ago
        Interesting response. Are you suggesting that the Soviet Union was unaware that the Mujahadeen was getting weapons and training from the U.S., or that the United States didn't know where North Korea got their MiG-15s and who was flying them? I suppose that may have been true for a time, but it's not like the jig was up as soon as intelligence reports revealed the truth. The real benefit of the proxy wars was that the level of indirection was believed to make an all-out nuclear conflict less likely, and that large chunks of the general population could be kept in the dark, unable to wrap their heads around "why we're over there".
• wildjim 15y ago
  Was it really "giving" or did they just get an arrangement to be able to use them "defensively" against other patent suits?