Patent Battle Heats Up as U.S. Justice Department Probes Sales of Nortel Patents
As more patent infringement lawsuits are filed across the world, the patent battle between some big name companies is really heating up. Just a few days ago, Rovi filed suit against Hulu and Google purchase 1,000 of IBM patents. The United States Justice Department is probing the sale of more than 6,000 patents to a group consisting of Apple, RIM, and Microsoft. With those patents, it’s possible that those three companies could tie up Google in court for years to come.
Google hasn’t concentrated on adding to its patent portfolio much in the past and that could really come back to haunt the search engine giant in the future. Google tried to be a major player during the Nortel’s patent auction, but was sent packing by a consortium of high tech companies that included Apple, RIM, and Microsoft. The final bid was $4.5 billion. That far outpaced Google’s initial bid of $900 million. Even when Google paired up with the IBM, the two companies decided against a bidding war with the other companies.
However, there is a federal investigation into that patent sale, according to the Wall Street Journal. That alone shows just how important patents are becoming in the technology industry. One of the reasons why this sale could face even greater scrutiny is because of how many different technologies are included in this group of more than 6,000 patents. This patent portfolio touches on virtually every aspect of telecommunication, but also social networking and internet search.
An analyst at Gartner, Michael Gartenberg, thinks that the involvement of the Department of Justice is expected at this point. He said, “The DOJ looks into all sorts of things. Obviously when so many things are litigated and where tactical advantages are perceived based on things like patent control, I’m not surprised that they are taking a look and we’ll see if they do anything as a result.”
