Google gets regulator nod for Motorola Mobility purchase
by Steven Mostyn - Feb 14 2012, 14:49
Image: Motorola.
Although Google is always pumping imagination iron at the technology gym in order to remain as ripped as its similarly tight competitors, the California-based heavyweight is clearly not averse to occasionally indulging in a little performance-enhancing consumption.
Case in point, antitrust regulators in both the United States and Europe have this week signed off on Google’s high-profile acquisition of Motorola Mobility, which instantly adds significant mass to the Internet giant’s muscle in the mobile marketplace—no reps or sets required.
In terms of core business effect, the securing of Motorola Mobility provides Google with access to thousands of patents that should help strengthen the standing of its Android operating system against litigation from industry rivals such as Apple and Microsoft.
Although Google has now attained some 17,000 existing patents—with a further 7,500 applications still in process—regulators have said they will monitor the search titan to ensure patents connected to the telecommunications sector remain licensed to competitors at fair prices.
Commenting on the approval via an official statement, the U.S. Justice Department said Google’s intentions regarding its newly acquired patent portfolio isn’t yet clear, and how those patents are exercised in the future “remains a significant concern”.
Purchase approval in such major regions as the U.S. and Europe is certainly good news for Google, but it is still waiting for similar green lights in jurisdictions such as China, Israel and Taiwan.
Google’s purchase of Motorola Mobility, which began back in August of 2011, has cost the company $12.5 billion USD.
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