Shaydx Posted November 1, 2013 Share Posted November 1, 2013 Canada-based telecom Nortel went bankrupt in 2009 and sold its biggest asset?a portfolio of more than 6,000 patents covering 4G wireless innovations and a range of technologies?at an auction in 2011. Google bid for the patents, but didn't get them. Instead, they went to a group of competitors?Microsoft, Apple, RIM, Ericsson, and Sony?operating under the name "Rockstar Bidco." The companies together bid the shocking sum of $4.5 billion. Patent insiders knew that the Nortel portfolio was the patent equivalent of a nuclear stockpile: dangerous in the wrong hands, and a bit scary even if held by a "responsible" party. This afternoon, that stockpile was finally used for what pretty much everyone suspected it would be used for?launching an all-out patent attack on Google and Android. The smartphone patent wars have been underway for a few years now, and the eight lawsuits filed in federal court today by Rockstar Consortium mean that the conflict just hit DEFCON 1. Google probably knew this was coming. When it lost out in the Nortel auction, the company's top lawyer, David Drummond, complained that the Microsoft-Apple patent alliance was part of a "hostile, organized campaign against Android." Google's failure to get patents in the Nortel auction was seen as one of the driving factors in its $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola in 2011. Rockstar, meanwhile, was pretty unapologetic about embracing the "patent troll" business model. Most trolls, of course, aren't holding thousands of patents from a seminal technology company. When the company was profiled by Wired last year, about 25 of its 32 employees were former Nortel employees. The suits filed today are against Google and seven companies that make Android smartphones: Asustek, HTC, Huawei, LG Electronics, Pantech, Samsung, and ZTE. The case was filed in the Eastern District of Texas, long considered a district friendly to patent plaintiffs. Source Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick H. Supervisor Posted November 1, 2013 Supervisor Share Posted November 1, 2013 Meh. They make it sound like this is the end for Android. A potential blow? Yes. The demise of Google's OS? Pretty much not going to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theyarecomingforyou Posted November 1, 2013 Share Posted November 1, 2013 And if those companies try to enforce patents in an anticompetitive manner in Europe they will be cut down by the EC, just as Samsung has been. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spenser.d Posted November 1, 2013 Share Posted November 1, 2013 Sucks for google. But really the patent system is nonsense at this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nashy Posted November 1, 2013 Share Posted November 1, 2013 So worst case is they are forced to licence the patents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mirumir Subscriber¹ Posted November 1, 2013 Subscriber¹ Share Posted November 1, 2013 In the end, it will be the lawyers of both sides who will benefit from this commotion. Tommy Vercetti and margrave 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo158 Posted November 1, 2013 Share Posted November 1, 2013 I have to laugh at this as Samsung make parts for the iPhone and most of those manufacturers also make Windows Phones!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spenser.d Posted November 1, 2013 Share Posted November 1, 2013 In the end, it will be the lawyers of both sides who will benefit from this commotion. No, Rockstar will win out as well because they'll be making money off every one of the hundreds of millions of android devices sold each quarter. Also, love they name they picked for their company lol :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Showan Posted November 1, 2013 Share Posted November 1, 2013 I guess it's a good thing that a ton of Android devices sell daily... I think Legion of Doom would have been a better name, instead of Rockstar. That way they could of staffed a guy named Solomon Grundy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mirumir Subscriber¹ Posted November 1, 2013 Subscriber¹ Share Posted November 1, 2013 No, Rockstar will win out as well because they'll be making money off every one of the hundreds of millions of android devices sold each quarter. Also, love they name they picked for their company lol :p :) I'm not so sure. Google acquired a bunch of patents too when they purchased Motorola I believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Showan Posted November 1, 2013 Share Posted November 1, 2013 :) I'm not so sure. Google acquired a bunch of patents too when they purchased Motorola I believe. And yet they (and their OEM's) are still paying a pretty penny to Microsoft. And Microsoft is getting this $$$, outside of being a part of Rockstar. So they get to Double Dip on Google. Because it is a group they will have to split it. So I kinda see your point. Google isn't going to tank because of this. But their is no way, that the bean counters want to look at the numbers and see that many "Commas" in the amount of $$$ paid in patent fees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Growled Member Posted November 2, 2013 Member Share Posted November 2, 2013 I think everyone has been waiting on this. Google has gotten too big.This may be too little, too late though. Tommy Vercetti 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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