Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), the new owner of hardware firm Motorola Mobility (NYSE:MMI), filed a complaint with the European Commission against Nokia (NYSE:NOK) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), accusing the two partners of using their smartphone patents against others in the industry.
In its complaint, Google alleged that claimed Microsoft and Nokia transferred 1,200 patents for assertion to a group called MOSAID, which Google deemed a "patent troll."
"Nokia and Microsoft are colluding to raise the costs of mobile devices for consumers, creating patent trolls that side-step promises both companies have made," Google said in a statement. "They should be held accountable, and we hope our complaint spurs others to look into these practices."
Microsoft, which separately has entered into numerous patent-licensing agreements with handset vendors that use Google's Android platform, including HTC, LG and Samsung, called Google's complaint a "desperate tactic" by a company facing regulatory scrutiny over its search and digital advertising businesses. Google spent $12.5 billion to acquire Motorola in part for its patent portfolio, which it hopes will help protect Android licensees from patent litigation.
Nokia was also dismissive of Google's complaint, which it deemed "frivolous." "Though we have not yet seen the complaint, Google's suggestion that Nokia and Microsoft are colluding on intellectual property rights is wrong," Nokia said in a statement. "Both companies have their own intellectual property portfolios and strategies and operate independently."
Nokia said it agrees with Google "that Android devices have significant IP infringement issues, and would welcome constructive efforts to stop unauthorized use of Nokia intellectual property."
According to a recent analysis by industry analyst Chetan Sharma, based on patent grants in both the United States and Europe from 1995 to 2012, the mobile patent market was led by Nokia, Samsung, Alcatel-Lucent (NASDAQ:ALU), Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC), Microsoft and IBM. In 2011, the patent market was led by Samsung, IBM, Sony, Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM), Microsoft and Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM).
For more:
- see this Reuters article
- see this Seattle Times article
- see this The Verge article
- see this separate Reuters article
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Nokia smacks Google for 'patent troll' charges - CNET News
Nokia has hit back at Google after the search giant charged Microsoft and Nokia with collusion and using patent trolls to discourage device makers from using Android.
"Though we have not yet seen the complaint, Google's suggestion that Nokia and Microsoft are colluding on intellectual property rights is wrong," Nokia spokesman Mark Durrant told Reuters today. "Both companies have their own intellectual property rights portfolios and strategies and operate independently."
Google filed a complaint yesterday with the European Commission, claiming Microsoft and Nokia are working together to fund patent trolls -- organizations that provide no product or service, and thrive on patent licensing and lawsuits -- to hurt both Android and competition in the marketplace.
"Nokia and Microsoft are colluding to raise the costs of mobile devices for consumers, creating patent trolls that side-step promises both companies have made," the search company said yesterday in a statement. "They should be held accountable, and we hope our complaint spurs others to look into these practices."
At the center of Google's issues with Nokia and Microsoft may be Canadian patent firm Mosaid. That company, which focuses solely on patent licensing and at times, lawsuits, last year acquired 2,000 wireless patents and patent applications from Nokia. As part of the deal, the company agreed to share revenue from the patents with Nokia and Microsoft.
Microsoft wasted no time firing back at Google yesterday, saying in a statement that the search company's complaint "seems like a desperate tactic on [Google's] part."
"Google is complaining about patents when it won't respond to growing concerns by regulators, elected officials and judges about its abuse of standard-essential patents, and it is complaining about antitrust in the smartphone industry when it controls more than 95 percent of mobile search and advertising," Microsoft said.
Google accuses Microsoft, Nokia of patent 'trolling' - ZDNet
This is news? Saying Microsoft is a Patent Troll, is like saying water is wet. Or that it's colder in Antarctica, than the Sahara Desert. Nokia is also known to be a Patent Troll. It's what happens when once great companies get fat, and lazy.
Google files complaint against Microsoft and Nokia accusing them of illegal patent sales to hike costs - Daily Mail
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Google lashed out at Microsoft and Nokia in a regulatory complaint, accusing them of illegally feeding mobile patents to a technology troll scavenging for billions of dollars in licensing fees that threaten to drive up the prices of cellphones and other wireless devices.
The claims were spelled out Thursday in a complaint filed with the European Commission, the chief regulator on that continent. Google Inc. also shared the complaint with the U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission.
Microsoft Corp. brushed off Google's accusations as the 'desperate tactic' of a company facing regulatory questions about its dominance of online search and digital advertising.
Driving costs: Google has filed a complaint against Microsoft and Nokia accusing them of illegally feeding mobile patents to drive up wireless costs
Efforts to reach Nokia Corp. representatives at the company's headquarters in Finland late Thursday were unsuccessful.
Google's attack on Microsoft and Nokia escalates a legal brawl among technology giants trying to gain the upper hand in the rapidly growing market for mobile computing.
Most of the fighting so far has been in the courtroom, where lawsuits and countersuits alleging patent infringements have been filed by Apple Inc., Samsung, Microsoft, Oracle Corp. Nokia, and HTC, among others.
Some of the missives have been aimed at Google and its business partners using its Android software for smartphones and other mobile devices.
Lucrative deal: Microsoft and Nokia, whose headquarters is seen in Finland, allegedly sold 2,000 essential patents in hopes of generating licensing fees of $3 billion during the next decade
To protect itself, Google picked up 17,000 mobile patents in a $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings that was completed last week.
Nokia joined forces with Microsoft last year when it agreed to adopt Windows as the operating system on its cellphones.
Google's complaint centers on 2,000 wireless patents that Nokia and Microsoft sold in September to MOSAID Technologies Inc., a company that specializes in collecting royalties on intellectual property. Companies that focus on extracting patent royalties instead of innovating are derisively known in the technology industry as 'trolls.'
MOSAID has made it clear it believes it is sitting on a potential gold mine.
After Nokia and Microsoft handed over the patents, MOSAID estimated the royalties from the intellectual property rights could bring it more $1 billion in revenue over the next decade.
Essential: Nokia and Microsoft, who joined forces last year after adopting Windows on their cellphones, are said to have sold the patents essential to most mobile devices
Under terms of the sale, MOSAID keeps one-third of the revenue from the patent royalties with the remainder going to Nokia and Microsoft. That mean's MOSAID's revenue estimates imply the patents could generate licensing fees of $3 billion during the next decade.
MOSAID declined to comment Thursday. The company, which is based in Ottawa, Ontario, already is suing iPhone and iPad maker Apple for alleged patent infringement in a Texas federal court.
The portfolio that Nokia and Microsoft transferred to MOSAID is valuable because about 1,200 of the patents are considered to be 'essential' to the operation of most mobile devices running on 2G, 3G and 4G wireless networks.
Some of the patents cover parts of open-source software known as the Linux Kernel, a form of freely available computer coding that Google used in building its Android operating system.
Firing back: Arguing levels of control Microsoft noted Google controlling over 95 per cent of mobile search and advertising
Google alleges MOSAID is reneging on a commitment that Nokia made in a 2005 regulatory filing when the company pledged not to enforce patents against software relying on the Linux Kernel.
'Nokia and Microsoft are colluding to raise the costs of mobile devices for consumers, creating patent trolls that side-step promises both companies have made,' Google said in a statement. 'They should be held accountable, and we hope our complaint spurs others to look into these practices.'
In its statement, Microsoft alluded to investigations in the U.S. and Europe into allegations that Google has been abusing its influential role in Internet search to thwart competition and increase advertising rates.
Google 'is complaining about antitrust in the smartphone industry when it controls more than 95 percent of mobile search and advertising,' Microsoft said. 'This seems like a desperate tactic on their part.'
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