Apple Google Patent Fight, part II

[RockdaMan]

Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Google Inc. (GOOG), aiming to bolster their patent portfolios, are among companies weighing possible bids for InterDigital Inc., a mobile-phone technology designer, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

InterDigital joins companies including Nortel Networks Corp. and Eastman Kodak Co. in selling patent portfolios that will help would-be owners defend themselves against allegations of infringement. Google lost in a bid for Nortel’s $4.5 billion portfolio to a group that included Apple and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)

InterDigital’s patents in cellular technology are “deeper and stronger” than Nortel’s, InterDigital Chief Executive Officer William Merritt said in April.

I'll bet Google pays through the nose to win this one.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...gital-bid.html

[fjtorres]

I dunno...
The Nortel auction suggests Google's nose might not be big enough to buy any meaningful patent protection.
Microsoft already had an iron clad license for the Nortel portfolio and they still chipped in, just to make sure Google wouldn't have access to them; a pure take-away play.
You don't make a move like that if you're not prepared to repeat it.

Google has a lot of enemies eager for payback that should be willing to join the Apple-Microsoft alliance. And, for that matter, some of the android vendors might see getting their own private protection as a way to get a competitive advantage on their unprotected brethren.

If those patents are *really* that fundamental (obviously the seller wants to puff up the portfolio's value) the bidding war might drive the price beyond what Google might ever get from android; Google has deep pockets but so do their foes. And it looks like those foes (and not just Oracle) smell blood...

[RockdaMan]

There is another patent pool battle brewing:

Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Google Inc. (GOOG), aiming to bolster their patent portfolios, are among companies weighing possible bids for InterDigital Inc., a mobile-phone technology designer, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

The person declined to be identified because the matter is private. InterDigital, which has about 1,300 patents related to mobile-phone technologies used to transfer information, hired bankers as it considers a sale, the King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based company said in a statement yesterday.

InterDigital’s patents in cellular technology are “deeper and stronger” than Nortel’s, InterDigital Chief Executive Officer William Merritt said in April. The company has a market value of about $3.1 billion.

This may be why Apple is sitting on what many investors feel is ludicrous hoard of cash that should be paid out to investors.

[Graham]

Presumably there comes a point where a company decides that it will cost them less paying out possible licensing fees than coughing up in advance for a patent portfolio (factoring in the potential return from that portfolio).

Graham

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Graham

Presumably there comes a point where a company decides that it will cost them less paying out possible licensing fees than coughing up in advance for a patent portfolio (factoring in the potential return from that portfolio).

Graham

Yes.
But patent licensing terms don't have to be friendly...
...and could wipe out all the economic advantage of using android instead of licensing something else.
(That is what HTC is facing, at a minimum.)

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

This may be why Apple is sitting on what many investors feel is ludicrous hoard of cash that should be paid out to investors.

I thought it was established that Apple keeps the hoard so Jobs can go swimming in a pool of $100 bills.

[RockdaMan]

I read this morning that Google may now be open to paying a settlement to Oracle.

I'd bet that much of this is to quell questions among its handset partners and/or defections to Windows 7. Much of the cutting/bleeding edge is happening with Android as the OS, and Google no doubt wants to keep it that way.

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

I thought it was established that Apple keeps the hoard so Jobs can go swiming in a pool of $100 bills.

Not funny.

Google has a fat hoard too per the link. Do the Google founder and Andy Rubin do the same?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

Not funny.

Google has a fat hoard too per the link. Do the Google founder and Andy Rubin do the same?

Rubin does look a bit like McDuck, but Brin looks more like his nephew.

[RockdaMan]

There were some major 'win some lose some' for both Google and Oracle today, but the judge did agree with Oracle that:

Google is definitely going to pay up “probably in the millions, maybe in the billions” at some point.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/google...ter-what/52975

[kjk]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

There were some major 'win some lose some' for both Google and Oracle today, but the judge did agree with Oracle that:



http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/google...ter-what/52975

Love how the judge wasn't impressed with Oracle's "$700 an hour expert witness coming up with the $6 billion figure".

[Dopedangel]

Again I don't get why Apple is going after patents Google needs them to protect android manufacturers Microsoft needs to stop that as it will stop its cash cow from Android.
Apple is only buying patents to stop competition not to protect itself. I am not an Apple hater just don't feel its products satisfy my needs but I do admire their hardware. If apple gets these patents it will be bad as it will kill competition.

[RockdaMan]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...ictory-1-.html

Another thorough article. This one could still go either way.

Apple, which also has pending legal fights with Samsung and Motorola, is looking to thwart rivals rather than extract payment for use of the patents, making it more likely to hold out for a ban on imports, said Ron Laurie, managing director of Inflexion Point Strategy LLC, which counsels companies on purchasing intellectual property.

The ITC staff, which acts as a third party in the case, had recommended that Apple lose on all claims. The staff’s position isn’t binding on the agency.

[aceflor]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

This may be why Apple is sitting on what many investors feel is ludicrous hoard of cash that should be paid out to investors.

oh no. They probably need the money to pay for your PR work, because considering the amount of effort you are putting into it, that sure can't be cheap.

[DixieGal]

Yawn. Does anyone even care anymore? Buy whatever you like, because there is an option for everyone out there. Pretending that it matters which format is preferred is sooooo 2010.