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Google purchase of Motorola Mobility about to get the green light from the Justice Department

Google purchase of Motorola Mobility about to get the green light from the Justice Department

Posted: 08 Feb 2012, 21:21, by Alan F.

Categories: Motorola Motorola Android Android Patents Patents Bookmark

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Google purchase of Motorola Mobility about to get the green light from the Justice Department

Unlike AT&T's failed purchase of T-Mobile, the wireless industry seems on the verge of seeing a major merger close. According to people familiar with the case, the Justice Department is about to give its blessing to Google's $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility. While Motorola Mobility does have a roster of well-accepted Android smartphones such as the Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX, the impetus for the deal was the Mountain View based company's desire to acquire its target's patent portfolio. The approval is penciled in for sometime next week. There are still worries on the mind of anti-trust enforcers in the U.S. and Europe. These regulators want to make sure that after the deal closes, Google will still license the Motolrola Mobility patents fairly to its competition.

Again, according to those in the know, the Justice Department is also expected to approve another deal as it will allow a group of tech giants like Apple, RIM and Microsoft to join together in purchasing patents from bankrupt Canadian firm Nortel Networks Corp. for $4.5 billion. The worry here is that this group could get together to use these acquired patents to attack Google's Android OS. The Justice Department did not comment.

Some patented technology has become industry standards and some companies owning these patents are licensing them to the competition under fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms, also known as FRAND. Recently Motorola argued in a German court that Apple infringed on its FRAND patent and won an injunction temporarily forcing Apple to stop the sale of certain of its products on its German online store.

source: WSJ

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1. squallz506 posted on 08 Feb 2012, 22:29 6 2

good news for google. bad news for apple's legal department.

2. jove39 posted on 08 Feb 2012, 22:59 5 0

Now...how about Nexus RAZR with monstrous specs :)

3. ljruble posted on 08 Feb 2012, 23:29 1 0

This is good news both for Android and my cash balance from the stock buyout :)

4. TKFox007 posted on 09 Feb 2012, 00:29 0 0

Does this mean that the next Nexus device will be a Motorola device?

5. windowsRocks posted on 09 Feb 2012, 01:05 2 1

Google has damn clear vision. Go Goooooooooooogle..........

6. cncrim posted on 09 Feb 2012, 01:09 2 3

Apple legal will not like, Anyway Go Google and hope google doesn't go sour in the future with these pofolio patents.

7. ivanko34 posted on 09 Feb 2012, 02:05 3 3

So this year apple will really launch a thermonuclear war against Android but they will not win and I hope Motorola will ban all apple products

8. putanginanyo posted on 09 Feb 2012, 06:22 0 1

At least they're not linking to Florian Mueller, He's crying just as much as Apple now about things not being fair. And we all know who started it.

9. kshell1 posted on 09 Feb 2012, 07:39 0 1

motorola+Google=apple killer :D and im sorry samsung but if the merger happens i will probably buy moto products from now if they turn stock

10. BattleBrat posted on 09 Feb 2012, 09:10 0 0

I hope this doesn't affect the apps (like the Motorola music app that streams music from your home computer) or Motoblur that will be available on newer phones, I've become quite accustomed to them on my RAZR