Post the slanging matches with Microsoft executives over the Android patents issue, search engine giant Google seems to be on the path to develop a strategy, in conjunction with its partners, to protect the value of Android and keep away patent lawsuits.
Director of Android global partnerships at Google, John Lagerling addressed the patent issue at a Pacific Crest Investment Conference. “Without going into too much detail, I do think that we have very strong paths that we can take to protect the values of Android that we have built through the open-source Apache 2 license with our partners. Obviously, Google does not build phones and devices, but we have a vested interest in protecting the values of the Android ecosystem,” he said.
His ‘vested interest’ remark was in relation to Google’s partners who Lagerling believes are being attacked by aggressors for no material reason and seeks to collaborate with them to work on several available options to protect the values of Android.
Commenting that all Google actions were directed towards encouraging and protecting innovation, Lagerling said that patents were supposed to enable and monetize innovation and when they are being used as tools to stifle innovation it works against the interests of consumers.
Claiming that Android is the only modern smart-phone operating system, that exists on devices that cost less than $ 200, the Google director, said that it is the cost factor which will enable the next billion of users of Internet on the mobile. Taking a swipe at Microsoft and Apple he said that there existed players who are not too keen on the variety that Android offers at such economical rates but that Google and its partners were competent to create and protect the value of Androids.
Eric Schmidt and Larry Page concur with Lagerling on his views about protecting Android, what remains to be seen is what exactly is Google’s strategy and how does it propose to put it into action.
On the issue of patent wars in the last few months, Larry Dignan of Zdnet posts in his blog that though the catfight over software patents had reached a peak, there seems to be very little chance of any reforms in the near future given that the American economy is in a mess and patents will take a back seat to interest payments, debt downgrades and elections.
Dignan quotes entrepreneur Mark Cuban as saying, “Major tech companies are buying big collections of patents not because they want to own the intellectual property but rather because they want the ability to respond to patent lawsuits with a lawsuit of their own. It’s like playing a game of thermo nuclear war. If all sides have “nuclear patents” they can respond to patent litigation with equal force. In other words, if you have enough “nuclear patents” no one will sue you for patent infringement because you have enough power to respond in kind.” Cuban noted that his portfolio companies are spending more time with lawyers over patents than doing real work and creating jobs.