This week's
assignment is to discuss why Google bought Motorola and then sold it soon
after. This blog post will focus on the former (why Google bought Motorola),
while the next blog post will focus on the latter.
Google announced the
acquisition of Motorola Mobility on August 15 for $40 per share. So the
question that naturally arises is why
did Google decide to buy Motorola? Google bought Motorola for the patents,
because Motorola had a huge patent library that could be used defensively.
Google also announced that together, both companies "will accelerate
innovation and choice in mobile computing" and that "Motorola
Mobilitiy's full commitment to the Android operating system means there is a
natural fit" between the two companies [2]. They also mentioned that they
plan to run Motorola as a separately operated business, so that each party
focuses on what they do best. In January 2011, Motorola Mobility (the former
Mobile Devices division of Motorola, Inc.) split from Motorola, Inc. Motorola Mobility holds at least 24,000
patents and pending patent applications worldwide, and approximately 5,000
patents and 1,500 pending patents in the United States. The article I read of
patentlyo.com was published in August of 2011 by Dennis Crouch, a Law Professor
at the University of Missouri School of Law.
Sources:
Hi Manali:
ReplyDeleteI agree with your logic and thought process here. Having a nice patent portfolio to use when necessary is good, both for using to initiate litigation regard patent infringement and, as you mentioned for defending in cases as well. Google seemed to have no other agenda for buying Motorola other than for the patents, which is very evident after it's sale to Lenovo recently. That cleared any doubt of why Google had purchased Motorola in the first place. This tells us about the value of patents in today's incessantly growing technological era. However, I would like to add on that Google could also have acquired Motorola to spread further Android OS influence, and then sell it off to Lenovo so that the Android influence further grows. That's just an addition thought on this. It would be awesome to learn more about this Google patent work and purchase/sale of Motorola from the talk that Dr. Lavian emailed us all about that's happening this upcoming Thursday: David Drummond, who serves as the "Senior Vice President [for] Corporate Development and Chief Legal Office" at Google. (https://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/events/fight-internet-freedom-talk-david-drummond)