The European Commission and the US Department of Justice have given the go-ahead to Google's $12.5bn (£10.4bn) acquisition of Motorola Mobility (MMI), the US handset and set-top box maker - a move that will open a new and potentially explosive chapter in the fight over smartphone patents.
China must also do the same before the merger can be completed.
The approval puts Google and Apple at loggerheads as the Motorola subsidiary tries to squeeze the iPhone maker for payments on patents that chipmaker Qualcomm, an iPhone chip supplier, says have already been licensed.
But in a clear shot across Google's bow, the US Department of Justice said in a statement accompanying its approval that while Apple and Microsoft had made clear commitments over licensing of "standards-essential patents" (SEP) for use in smartphones, "Google's commitments were more ambiguous and do not provide the same direct confirmation of its SEP licensing policies." For that reason, the DoJ would continue to monitor the market and "will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action to stop any anticompetitive use of SEP rights".... Source/Origin >> Read More
