Google Legal Problems Come Together With Motorola Acquisition

Tue, 04/03/2012 - 12:41 EDT - Seeking Alpha

By Dana Blankenhorn: With the coming together of Google (GOOG) and Motorola Mobility (MMI), the search giant's legal troubles will now be in one place, and it's not a good place.Motorola is under fierce attack from European Union investigators for its aggressive use of patents, on Google's behalf, against Android rivals. The company's financial demands for patents that should be licensed under Free, Reasonable And Non Discriminatory (FRAND) terms are excessive, critics like Florian Mueller of FossPatents say.The Motorola patents represent Google's offensive punch against Apple's (AAPL) efforts to either force apart Android and Apple, on a technical level, or enforce a "killer patent" that forces Android out of the market entirely. Hearings on a "touchscreen heuristics" patent before Judge Richard Posner are Apple's last, best hope for a knock-out, and that case is proceeding against Motorola's smartphones.Once the acquisition is complete, both these problems will be housed in theComplete Story »

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Google Legal Problems Come Together With Motorola Acquisition

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