Google promises to license Motorola's standards patents after acquisiti

[techbeck]

Google just sent letters out to various standards organizations, including the IEEE, promising to license Motorola's patents related to standards like 3G and H.264 after it completes its planned acquisition of the company. The move doesn't signal any change in policy, but is rather a bit of well-timed showmanship by Google: Motorola already has obligations to license "essential" patents to various standards under fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms, but the deal is being closely scrutinized by European regulators as Motorola fights various FRAND-related lawsuits in courts around the world. A particular issue is whether Motorola has been too aggressive in seeking injunctions against products that infringe its FRAND patents instead of negotiating appropriate royalties as required; Apple recently had to pull the iPhone and iPad 3G from its online store in Germany for a short while due to Motorola's enforcement of a patent essential to GPRS data transmission. Similar issues have prompted an EU investigation of Samsung's licensing practices ? exactly the sort of heat Google is trying to avoid.

In its letter to the IEEE, Google expressly states that it understands "MMI is prepared to grant licenses for Essential Patent Claims with a maximum per-unit royalty of 2.25%" and that Google "will continue to honor MMI's past practice with regard to MMI's maximum go-forward per-unit royalty rate." On the controversial issue of using these standards patents to seek injunctions against competitors, Google's position is that it will not first resort to an injunction, but it reserves the right to do so if its licensing offer is not accepted:

Google will make a final offer of its RAND license terms for products covered by the acquired MMI Essential Patent Claims, without prejudice to any right to recover damages for past unlicensed use. Google will make this offer before seeking injunctive relief for infringement of the acquired MMI Essential Patent Claims (i) that is the subject of litigation commenced after the date of this letter or (ii) introduced into existing litigation after the date of this letter. As described above, the offer may include a reciprocal grant back license for Google's products to the licensee's Essential Patent Claims for the same standards, also on RAND terms. The offer shall be open for at least 30 days, provided that the counterparty agrees not to seek injunctive relief against Google's products based on the counterparty's own standard essential patents reading on the same standards during that period. If the counterparty accepts Google's RAND offer, Google will not apply for injunctive relief based on the acquired MMI Essential Patent Claims.

We probably shouldn't expect this development to end the current patent disputes between companies like Apple and Motorola anytime soon. Motorola has apparently already offered Apple this license rate of 2.25% and Apple has rejected it as fundamentally unfair and contrary to the principles of FRAND licensing commitments.

There's also some question of whether it's fair to demand potential licensees of its FRAND patents to pay for what's called a "portfolio license" that includes other non-standards-essential patents. Portfolio licensing is common in the industry ? it's how Microsoft licenses its patents to Android OEMs ? but mixing FRAND and non-FRAND patents together appears to have caught the eyes of EU regulators as a potentially dangerous antitrust issue. While the letter doesn't address this explicitly address this concern, a source close to Google told us that the company "will not require prospective licensees of Motorola's FRAND patents to license non-FRAND patents" after the deal closes.

http://www.theverge....ts-fairly-after

[still1]

thats good... i hope Motorola turns to profit with all the patent cash

[HawkMan]

Well they have to, motorolas patents are mostly hardware patents, and they're mostly hardware patents that have to be licensed under FRAND. Even if google is doing its best to ignore this little fact and sue other anyway.

[Growled Member]

Google seems to want to do the right thing with this purchase.

[ichi]

Well they have to, motorolas patents are mostly hardware patents, and they're mostly hardware patents that have to be licensed under FRAND. Even if google is doing its best to ignore this little fact and sue other anyway.

Motorola?

[HawkMan]

No, google, I doubt Motorola suddenly decided by itself to start ignoring FRAND and patent deals by themselves when they haven't before.

[ichi]

No, google, I doubt Motorola suddenly decided by itself to start ignoring FRAND and patent deals by themselves when they haven't before.

Neither have Google. Considering the acquisition hasn't yet gone through it's been Motorola's executives who decided going that way, not Google's.

[HawkMan]

If you think google isn't already applying pressure to motorola and Motorola isn't doin all they can to accomodate, you're being gullible.

Motorola didn't just suddenly change their practices out of nowhere.

[farmeunit]

If you think google isn't already applying pressure to motorola and Motorola isn't doin all they can to accomodate, you're being gullible.

Motorola didn't just suddenly change their practices out of nowhere.

You must have missed this part?

"We probably shouldn't expect this development to end the current patent disputes between companies like Apple and Motorola anytime soon. Motorola has apparently already offered Apple this license rate of 2.25% and Apple has rejected it as fundamentally unfair and contrary to the principles of FRAND licensing commitments."

And this really isn't any different than what MS does, but it's OK for them?

[ichi]

If you think google isn't already applying pressure to motorola and Motorola isn't doin all they can to accomodate, you're being gullible.

Motorola didn't just suddenly change their practices out of nowhere.

Maybe. Or it could just be Motorola's reaction to Apple's pressure.

Google must have obviously know about and likely authorize it, but going to say that they actually pushed Motorola might be stretching it a bit.

[techbeck]

If you think google isn't already applying pressure to motorola and Motorola isn't doin all they can to accomodate, you're being gullible.

Motorola didn't just suddenly change their practices out of nowhere.

Google apply pressure to Motorola? Possibly but I am not going to guess. Gullible? Naw, just want proof before making accusations.

And maybe Motorola is fighting back and this is what caused their reaction.