Saturday, August 6, 2011

More Apple-Google-Microsoft Patent Battles Coming?

Google and Apple now are said to be sniffing around for InterDigital patents, in the wake of a consortium purchase of Nortel patents (Apple was part of that group) and a Google purchase of some patents from IBM.

Google has nearly $40 billion in cash and cash equivalents to spend, but Apple has almost double that. And if Apple teams up with Microsoft again, they’ll have over $100 billion in buying power.

Some might argue that, for such reasons, Google will not be able to out-bid Apple, and therefore will be exposed to patent litigation related to Android. Others might argue the whole matter is raising in a new way the need for patent reform, while some might even think the Justice Department will have to intervene.

Competition, many would agree, is a good thing. But it now appears that patent litigation now is increasingly used to stifle competition. And that could become a restraint of trade issue.

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