Google buys IBM’s patents to defend lawsuits on Android operating system
30 Jul 2011
Google has acquired technology patents from International Business Machines Corp (IBM) as the web-search giant shores up its defences for potential lawsuits to its Android mobile operating system.
Google purchased 1,030 patents from IBM, covering a broad array of technologies to address server and router architectures, chip fabrication, and search technologies.
Although neither Google nor IBM have publicly reported the deal, the purchase was first reported on 28 July by the blog SEO by the Sea, which said Google in mid-July acquired more than 1,000 patents and recorded the sale with the US Patent and Trademark Office.
The acquisition comes after the Mountain View, California-based company last month lost out buying Nortel Networks Corp's 6,000 patents to a consortium led by Apple, Microsoft and RIM (See: Apple, Microsoft, Sony, RIM bag Nortel patents for $4.5 bn).
Google has also been holding talks with wireless developer InterDigital Inc for buying its patents, The Wall Street Journal reported a few days back, citing people familiar with the matter
Pennsylvania-based InterDigital has approximately 8,800 US and foreign patents in its portfolio. It also has almost 10,000 patent applications in process around the world.