Google to Make £550 million Bid for Patents
Google is to bid more than £550 million in an attempt to purchase a host of patents from the bankrupt telecoms company Nortal in what is being seen by many as a defensive move which will protect them against other companies that have larger patent portfolios.
The bidding stage is still open, meaning that companies like Apple, Microsoft and the like could also make a bid of equivalent or higher value. Nortel claims the patents cover “a broad range of wires, wireless and digital communication technologies”
These includes patents for 4G wireless, data networking, optical, voice, internet, internet service provider and semiconductors.
If Google attains the patents they will better be able to defend themselves against companies who attempt to sue them over various, currently uncovered, aspects of their operation.
In a recent blogpost, Google commented that “The patent system should reward those who create the most useful innovations for society, not those who stake bogus claims or file dubious lawsuits. It’s for these reasons that Google has long argued in favor of real patent reform, which we believe will benefit users and the U.S. economy as a whole.
“But as things stand today, one of a company’s best defenses against this kind of litigation is (ironically) to have a formidable patent portfolio, as this helps maintain your freedom to develop new products and services. Google is a relatively young company, and although we have a growing number of patents, many of our competitors have larger portfolios given their longer histories.”
