Google finishes $12.5B Motorola deal, new CEO promises ‘smaller, fewer bets’

Dennis Woodside

Google this morning became a hardware company — completing its $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility and promptly naming a new CEO for the company, existing Google executive Dennis Woodside. Woodside replaces Sanjay Jha, the Motorola exec who led the mobile phone company as it became one of Android’s biggest backers. The mantra from the new… Read More…

Judge scolds Microsoft and Motorola for ‘hubris’ and arrogance in patent case

msmotorola

After listening to three hours of arguments from Microsoft and Motorola in a patent dispute today, a federal judge in Seattle deferred his rulings on the motions before him but leveled sharp criticisms at both companies in the case. “The court is well aware that it is being played as a pawn in a global… Read More…

Microsoft vs. Motorola: Key hearing today in patent case

msmotorola

A court hearing set for today in Seattle will focus on a dispute between Microsoft and Motorola Mobility, potentially impacting Microsoft’s ability to sell the Xbox 360 and Windows 7 in some parts of the world. But the case will also be watched for a possible precedent in the broader debate over how companies should… Read More…

Last hurdle for Google’s $12.5B Motorola deal: China

motorolamobility

Antitrust regulators in Europe and the United States gave clearance last month to Google’s proposed $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility, but the deal still hasn’t closed. So what’s the hangup? China, it turns out. Here’s the text of a regulatory filing from Motorola, made public this morning. Upon agreement with Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc…. Read More…

Microsoft files EU complaint vs. Motorola, takes Google to task on standards and patents

motorolamobility

Updated with Google’s statement below. Microsoft has filed a formal competition complaint against Motorola Mobility in Europe, saying that Motorola is seeking unreasonable royalties for patents needed to implement WiFi and web video standards in Windows PCs, Xbox 360 consoles and other products. The Redmond company is also taking aim at Motorola’s soon-to-be parent, Google,… Read More…

Google’s $12.5B Motorola deal gets European approval

motorolamobility

Google’s proposed acquisition of mobile phone giant Motorola won approval from the European Commission today, leaving the U.S. Justice Department as the last major hurdle for the $12.5 billion deal. A major motivation for the deal is Motorola’s large patent portfolio. The European clearance comes less than a week after Google promised publicly that it wouldn’t… Read More…

Microsoft vs. Motorola: The 13-year-old patent filing in the middle of a smartphone war

windowscepatents

The year was 1998. Bill Clinton was president, the original PlayStation was going head-to-head with the Nintendo 64, and a group of engineers from Microsoft’s Windows CE team filed a patent application for “Generating Meeting Requests And Group Scheduling From a Mobile Device.” Thirteen years later, the patent they later received has come back to… Read More…

Intellectual Ventures sues Motorola over six patents

IVImage

Motorola has been sued for patent infringement by Intellectual Ventures, the Bellevue-based company run by former Microsoft technology chief Nathan Myhrvold — marking the latest in a series of intellectual property disputes in the booming mobile industry. The suit, filed today in federal court in Delaware, cites six patents and says Intellectual Ventures has been… Read More…

Google’s patent buying spree continues, consumes 1,023 patents from IBM

android

Google continues to gobble up patents in the mobile arena, a defensive move to ward off assaults from Apple and Microsoft which are attacking the search giant’s Android platform. Bloomberg News reports that Google purchased an additional 1,023 patents from IBM last month, adding to the 1,030 patents it acquired from IBM in July. The… Read More…

Google’s bigger game: The subplot behind the Motorola acquisition

motorolamobility

“Having at least one area where we can do integrated hardware and software and learn from that probably produces better products.” – Google’s Eric Schmidt, speaking about the company’s Motorola acquisition yesterday. Guest Commentary: Many people in the tech industry would assume that Schmidt was thinking about mobile phones when he said that. But the… Read More…