Patent drama with the stars

Get out your fire extinguishers, because The patent struggle between technological giants seems only to flare up. On Wednesday, Google publicly accused Apple and Microsoft that the latter deliberately conspired to undermine the position of the Android OS using cartridges in the form of newly acquired patents from Nortel and Novell.



Why just now? Indeed, in the past, Google remained silent on this topic and certainly never called their rivals by name. Conversations about an incorrect patent appropriation system have been raised by the search company for a long time; one post was even written explaining why Google intends to spend serious money on the remains of Nortel's fame for its own protection . But neither one nor the other, did not help. And the company was in an even more vulnerable position, at the moment when the rates only increased.

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David Drummond blames Apple, Microsoft, Oracle and RIM for organizing a “hostile Android campaign” by buying patents from Novell and Nortel and then asking Google for a percentage of each Android device licensing. . It seems to be simple, competing companies are trying to make more expensive the production and licensing of Android devices (provided that the OS itself is distributed free of charge), as well as preventing them from entering the market during legal proceedings with Barnes & Noble, HTC, Motorola and Samsung .



Before losing an auction on Nortel, Google bet a little more than $ 4 billion. Apple is the first company behind the latest Rockstar Bidco (I think that even this name laughs at Google?), Won the pool for $ 4.5 billion - we already know . But now from the ship of corporations one can see an island on which even more treasure is buried.



One can argue for a long time who is Google’s greatest rival in terms of the success of the Android OS and the devices on it: RIM, MS or Apple, each of which is included in Rockstar Bidco. But one thing is known for certain - Apple and Google have long been interested in InterDigital's patent pool, which will soon be sold . According to Bloomberg, Samsung also pulls its hands and looks into the upcoming deal. You can bet a million that Microsoft does the same thing. Most likely Apple. Why? Well, everything is simple here.



If the Nortel deal brought about 6,000 different patents to a joint project of three companies, InterDigital holds 8,800 similar documents in the pool. Moreover, the scope of patents is still the same - mobile technologies.



In other words, this battle will be bloody. If you focus on Nortel, which has implemented a $ 4.5 billion deal with a starting price of $ 1 billion, when Rockstar Bidco is connected to a deal with InterDigital, then the price can easily go beyond $ 5-6 billion. Does Google have such funds? There is. Unfortunately for them, Apple and Microsoft together have a lot more money.



In this situation, it is not surprising that the vice president of Google literally panicked and wrote his post - he just got tired of constantly getting slaps. And his words say not so much about the insult as about the conspiracy, during which the software giant (Microsoft) invited to dinner, and then went to bed with the other companies who gave money for patents. With only one goal - to kill Google.



Now imagine that this is true. About which they know in Google. They have about $ 40 billion in cash or cash equivalents, ready to spend. Apple has almost twice as many funds. Apple and Microsoft have more than $ 100 billion in "purchasing power." If these two companies come to participate in the InterDigital auction, then Google has very few options:



1. Go to court

2. Address the audience

3. Pray







As David Drummond noted during a verbal altercation with Microsoft representatives on Twitter - the US Department of Justice is already engaged in checking recent transactions (Novell - Nortel, although in the first case all participating companies were already limited by the Department of Justice) and will definitely be present at the next auction ( InterDigital). He himself engaged the second option. Well, the third ... it is possible that he always worked. This is a cruel world.



And for this reason, it is impossible to succeed being simply the first - as in the case of Google, which offered its $ 900 million for the Nortel pool in early July and could hardly have imagined that it would be bypassed with a rate of $ 4.5 billion. Although there was a bargain for anything - the portfolio contains patents for 3G and 4G wireless communications, optical technologies, voice processing, semiconductor manufacturing and many other documents that would no doubt help Google to defend against its own competitors. More precisely - could help.



“One smartphone can raise doubts on 250,000 (mostly doubtful) patents and our competitors, although imposing a“ tax ”on these patents in order to make the devices even more expensive for the buyer,” Drummond writes: “They want the manufacturer to be harder to sell the device with Android. Instead of competing in the design of new devices or capabilities, they only compete in lawsuits. Until we intervene, consumers may face higher prices for Android devices and a smaller range of choices for their next phone. ”



From these words, it becomes obvious that Google considers relatively modern patent system - that it works against the company ("Patents were created to encourage innovation, but over time they were used as a weapon to stop them" - in a nearby post). But it’s quite possible that these are just offended words after a lost fight. In the end, Google jumped into the mobile market absolutely exactly knowing what the rules are, and that patent wars are going very often. This is what Florian Muller, an intellectual property analyst, thinks about:



“Google entered the field of wireless communications boldly, despite the fact that from the point of view of lawsuits it is one of the hottest markets,” Muller writes: “Android’s problem is not in patents or some kind of conspiracy - it’s made up of a huge number of lawsuits. I think that in fact, all of these patent holders just want a natural business and incomes for everyone, rather than trying to break Google and Android with some sort of organized campaign that Google cannot yet prove. ”



Google believes that Oracle is primarily responsible for anti-Android conspiracy, but Florian Müller here quotes the words of a judge who knows Google vs. Oracle: "a strong suspicion that Google specifically violated Oracle's intellectual property rights."







And yet, it is quite possible to understand the feelings of Drummond. He is angry because Microsoft earns more from each device than Google. He is angry because companies, such as Oracle, who once claimed that there is no point in software patents and that a company can only use them to defend its own products, unite to resist Google and, finally, just to sue. He is angry because Google, even after buying patents from IBM and other companies, the company's position is still weak and it does not have any significant portfolio of patents.



Attention is a question. Why? Why has Google become the enemy (and this is precisely the position that David Drummond claims) of many companies in the industry? It is unlikely because they are "evil", rather it is explained by others. Over time, Google is increasingly trying to succeed in absolutely everything. And what's more, the company has the courage to think that this is really possible. This is what angers all competitors who feel that the earth begins to move under their feet.



So it was with Apple. It is hardly worth mentioning that the two companies were very close, and the then Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, was even on the board of Apple. And Google was for Jobs to integrate some applications into the iPhone (Maps, YouTube, etc.) - even the impression was created that these two could unite and make some kind of revolution in the mobile market.



But everything began to turn and become very difficult at the very moment when it became clear that Android and iPhone are not just direct competitors - sworn enemies. The rest is part of the story.



And for the same reason today, Microsoft may well crave Android's blood to finally spill. Their message is obvious: we invited Google to become our partner in the Nortel patent deal, but Google wanted all the toys for itself and thought it could get them.



Although Brad Smith's comment - his tweet, captured above, speaks only of the Novell patent proposal. Moreover, Drummond has already responded to this with the words: “The deal was offered only after everyone had made sure that the patents could not be used to protect Android, and nevertheless we would have to pay for them — we are not bathe. "



So, is the whole problem really in patents, or in companies owning them? If this is a two-sided problem - that is, a way to correct it, this is reforming the current system of intellectual possessions and moving towards another method of regulating property.



In truth, the US Supreme Court could very easily and simply, with one stroke of the pen, extend its prohibition on patenting mathematical algorithms to software code. Even if something looks like iron and works like iron, then the basis is most likely a software mechanism, which in essence is just a mathematical-logical code.



“Of course,” wrote Forbes columnist Timothy Lee: “The abolition of software patents would be controversial, since it would spray hundreds of thousands of patents worth billions of dollars. The court always tries to avoid such decisions. ”



Well, and the fact that David Drummond brought this drama to blogs and not to courts, now Google shows its attitude to the current patent system and some of the giants of this field: only the opinion of the audience makes sense, and not the ultimate truth. In the end, it is not for Google’s judgment to owe half a million activated Android devices every day.



Microsoft, Apple, RIM are all Google's competitors in the mobile market. But where the big antagonist of the company itself is Oracle. If Apple and MS’s claims can slightly disrupt Android’s ecosystem by making the platform or development more costly for it, and making the device more expensive, then it’s very dangerous to sue Oracle because it can destroy everything. For those who have forgotten, I remind you - Oracle has long filed a lawsuit against Google for unlicensed use of Java on Android.



And if this story is confirmed by tweets and screenshots of private correspondence, then Google is really in trouble. In 2005, Google’s mobile chief Andy Rubin (Andy Rubin) wrote : “If Sun doesn’t want to work with us, we have two options: 1. Abandon our work and apply MSFT CLR VM and C # or 2. Continue to work on Java defending our solution, most likely acquiring enemies. ”



As you can see, the last one was chosen. But in 2005 Google was unlikely to know that Sun would disappear soon, and Oracle’s controlling Java rights would be transferred. Stand in the way of this company, few dare.



This story ends with lazy comments. As from Microsoft, whose tweet mentioned Novell, but Nortel forgot, and Google, pretending that nothing happened.



Although, the last comment of the vice-president of Google still carries a bit of reason:



“If you think about it well, it becomes obvious why we refused the offer of Micrososf. The purpose of the latter was to keep patents that can be used to protect against attacks from Google and manufacturers on Android. The joint acquisition of Novell patents, which gave each party a license, was rejected because it would not give Android any protection against attacks from Microsoft or other transaction partners (because roughly speaking, “patents are one for all”). ”



That is, Drummond, literally and openly, says that buying a Novell pool was to one degree or another a scam. Google would have acquired patent rights that cannot be used to defend in court (surprisingly, no one regards patents as an innovation - just property).



Should Google go on its way, trying to acquire the remaining patent portfolios? You can argue. On the one hand - on the other side of the ocean, they say, there is justice. According to it, the court ordered Microsoft and other companies involved in the Novell deal to sell some of their patents.



On the other hand, until Google has these patents, their hysteria is unlikely to stop. Courts with Oracle go, but there is no progress on them and, definitely, not one of the manufacturers of devices on Android is ready to lose the most important thing - the platform.



InterDigital patent trades should begin in September.



Thanks for the info TechCrunch , ArsTechnica , Wired