Google Builds Muscle with IBM & Motorola Patents to Beat Lawsuits

by Lazarus Rankish Hunt - 1/6/2012 8390 Views

Google's Patent Acquisitions to Drive Strategic Decisions in 2012

In the face of mounting legal actions from industry rivals and competitors, Google closed a deal with IBM, which has set forth a flurry of patent transfers to Google, some of which would give Google the advantage to tide over the legal sanctions that it is being threatened of. Most of the IBM-to-Google Patent transfers started in middle of 2011 and the latest in the last week of December, as per an update by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) patent assignment database. Neither the USPTO database nor Google/IBM have come out in the open with a disclosure of the details of the patent transactions or about the terms of the acquisition and the financial worth of these transfers. The only details available about the recent Patent transfer is that IBM agreed to a deal that assigned around 188 patents and another 29 pending patent applications to Google.

Domination of SmartPhones Takes New Direction

The acquisition of mobile patents has become a top priority for Google in the face of aggressive Apple lawsuits against Android vendors such as Samsung and HTC. Google is under the compulsion to strengthen its patent portfolio as the fight for dominance in the extremely competitive SmartPhone market is flooded with lawsuits claiming infringement of patented technology. Makers of SmartPhone like Samsung and HTC, employing Google's Android mobile OS have also been accused of breaching Apple-held patents and those patents that HTC got from Google originally belonged to Motorola Mobility, which Google acquire for $12.5 billion. Motorola mobility, with over 14,000 patents and another 7,000 pending will give Google the perfect advantage to protect Google's Android mobile OS platform and all the Android hardware OEMs from Apple, Microsoft, and other lawsuits against Google. In addition to giving Google the clout to countersue in the event of an attack, Google can also use the Motorola patents to lend a legal hand to other Android partners. Earlier, Motorola had filed patent claims against Apple, which responded with a countersuit of its own.

GoogleTV To Grow Global On Motorola Built Tech Platforms

Besides SmartPhone technology, Google would be banking on the Motorola advantage of being the leading manufacturer of set-top boxes used by major cable services as Google will be giving a serious push for GoogleTV to go more mainstream. With the Motorola deal, Google gets the added advantage of producing set-top boxes that can connect TVs to the Web and Google is sure to benefit from Motorola Mobility's strong positioning in living room devices. Google Chief Executive, Larry Page said "Our acquisition of Motorola will increase competition by strengthening Google's patent portfolio, which will enable us to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies," when the Motorola Mobility acquisition was announced. One other motivating factor behind the Motorola Mobility deal was Google's desire to create not just the software but also to design and produce the gadgets itself thereby taking full control over the software and hardware parts in an attempt to eat into the Apple advantage.

Google-IBM-Motorola Patents - From Widgets to Voice Over IP

The recent set of IBM patents cover a broad range of topics, such as presentation software, blade servers, data caching, server load balancing, network performance, video conferencing, a Java script browser widget, email administration, instant messaging applications in addition to specific internet, phone, and mobile phone technologies. These patents will give Google the muscle to get over the current and future lawsuits and legal challenges as well, as Bloomberg reported that there are 18 specific patents Motorola Mobility owns that can help Google battle current litigation which were used by Motorola Mobility to sue Apple targeting its iPhone, iPad, AppleTV, and even the MacBook Air and resulting in the BlackBerry manufacturer to pay royalties. Since the FTC antitrust probe of Google is already underway, Google still needs to triumph over it to win the battle - Google Vs others.

Here is a list of some of the recent patent acquisitions from IBM -

• Customizing And Distributing Advertisments To Mobile Devices On A Communication Network (US Patent # 8024223)

• Handling Location Determinations In A Telecommunications Network To Reduce Subscriber-Experienced Latency While Conserving Network Resources(US Patent # 7783279)

• Method And Apparatus For Dynamically Modifying Web Page Display For Mobile Devices (US Patent # 7400316)

• Mobile Wireless Device Adaptation Based On Abstracted Contectual Situation Of User Using Near-Field Communications And Information Collectors (US Patent # 7729689)

• Pipelined Architecture For Global Analysis And Index Building (US Patent # 7293005)

• Selecting And Rendering A Section Of A Web Page (US Patent # 7949935)

• System And Method For Generating High-Function Browser Widgets With Full Addressability (US Patent # 7269792)

• System And Method For Manufacturing And Updating Insertable Portable Operating System Module (US Patent # 7225440)

• Transfer Of Web Applications Between Devices (US Patent # 7526559)

• Using Semantic Networks To Develop A Social Network (US Patent # 7865592)

• Voice Based Keyword Search Algorithm (US Patent # 7809564)

• Wireless Telephone System Including Voice Over Ip And Pots (US Patent # 7492758)

• Wireless Telephone System Including Voice Over Ip And Pots (US Patent # 7590106)

• Wireless Telephone System Including Voice Over Ip And Pots (US Patent # 7710946)

• Wireless Telephone System Including Voice Over Ip And Pots (US Patent # RE42271)

• Computer Phone (US Patent # 7499726)

Category :

Google

Tags :

Google-IBM, Google Patents, GoogleTV, Android, Apple, IBM Patents, Motorola Patents, Motorola Mobili

About Lazarus Rankish Hunt

Hi … I am Ranki, a Journo by profession now enjoying a free fall into the future of SEO. Writing is a flow of my being, an extension of the self that is unstoppable, even if it isn’t embraced, embalmed and mummified by recognition. I am here to enjoy the ride, since I have no fixed date with destiny. I Manage Media and Strategize Content at Submitinme. I fill up spaces on pages with the feeling that I am shouting from the roof tops for the Eared crowd to hear and find the latest break-outs in the field. There could be more or less of me, if you care to .... more info about the author