Google/Motorola: Patent Hoarding Is a Sign of a Mature Tech Industry

Wed, 08/17/2011 - 06:50 EDT - Seeking Alpha

By Scott Krisiloff:Consensus seems to be that Google's (GOOG) $12.5B acquisition of Motorola Mobility (MMI) on Monday was primarily made for access to Motorola's patent portfolio. Motorola has 17,000 patents which will help protect Android "from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies" according to Larry Page. The move was in response to the mounting lawsuits in the mobile industry diagrammed below (click to enlarge images): As tech companies throw around billions to load up on stockpiles of patents in a order to foster an environment of mutually assured destruction, patents are quickly becoming a controversial topic. What's the economic value of hoarding redundant patents in order to defend against lawsuits? Many argue that rather than spurring innovation, the modern patent system is stifling it because of two systemic flaws: 1) a patent office that awards too many patents and 2) a legal system which is too lenient to patent holdersComplete Story »

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Google/Motorola: Patent Hoarding Is a Sign of a Mature Tech Industry

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