Google claims 'hostile, organized campaign' against Android; Microsoft responds

[xune]

It, as they say, is on. Google's Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, David Drummond, made an appearance on the company's official blog today with a post not-so-subtly-titled "When patents attack Android," which directly addresses what he calls a "hostile, organized campaign against Android by Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and other companies, waged through bogus patents." Drummond then goes on to cite a number of examples of this "organized campaign" from those trying to "strangle" Android, including Apple and Microsoft teaming up to buy Novell and Nortel's old patents "to make sure Google didn't get them," Microsoft seeking $15 licensing fees for each Android device, and lawsuits against the likes of Barnes & Noble, HTC, Motorola, and Samsung.

According to Drummond, those efforts amount to a "tax" that makes Android devices more expensive for consumers and manufacturers alike, and that "instead of competing by building new features or devices, they are fighting through litigation." He further goes on to bemoan the "anti-competitive strategy" that's "escalating the cost of patents way beyond what they're really worth," and closes things out by noting that he's encouraged by Justice Department investigations into the aforementioned Novell and Nortel patent issues. Hit the source link to read the full post yourself.

Update: And now, shots have been fired from both sides. Brad Smith, Microsoft's General Counsel, has shot off the following tweet: "Google says we bought Novell patents to keep them from Google. Really? We asked them to bid jointly with us. They said no." We're guessing the truth lies somewhere in between, as it always does.

Update 2: Hoo boy! The hits just keep comin' out of Redmond. Frank Shaw, lead corporate communications for Microsoft has just tweeted an image of an email between Brad Smith and Kent Walker (Google's General Counsel) that appears to corroborate the claims that Microsoft wanted to team up with El Goog.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/03/google-slams-apple-and-microsoft-claims-hostile-organized-cam/

[xune]

Hold up.. I think I like the name of this related article better:

Google Threw A Punch, Microsoft Fires Back With A Missile

MG SIEGLER
posted 2 hours ago37 Comments

Earlier today, Google came out swinging. Seemingly sick of being continuously slapped in the face by the patent issue, Google?s SVP and Chief Legal Officer, David Drummond, wrote a blog post calling out several of Google?s rivals for attempting to use ?bogus patents? to destroy Android. Chief among the rivals called out was Microsoft. Drummond noted that the software giant had been getting in bed with other rivals to hurt Google.

Among the accusations was that Microsoft teamed up with Apple to buy Novell?s old patents, implying that they did so in order to keep them away from Google.

Microsoft didn?t take too kindly to that remark.

?Google says we bought Novell patents to keep them from Google. Really? We asked them to bid jointly with us. They said no,? Brad Smith, Microsoft General Counsel tweeted out in response.

Damn. Sh*t just got real.

Just in case that wasn?t enough, Frank Shaw, Microsoft Head of Communications, followed up with the real heat-seeker. ?Free advice for David Drummond ? next time check with Kent Walker before you blog.  ,? Shaw tweeted, referring to another Google SVP and General Counsel. Attached to that tweet was the picture of an email Walker apparently sent to Smith on October 28, 2010. It reads as follows:

Brad ?

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you ? I came down with a 24-hour bug on the way back from San Antonio. After talking with people here, it sounds as though for various reasons a joint bid wouldn?t be advisable for us on this one. But I appreciate your flagging it, and we?re open to discussing other similar opportunities in the future.

I hope the rest of your travels go well, and I look forward to seeing you again soon.

? Kent

While it?s only one instance, this really does undercut Google?s entire argument. Google was attempting to set up a pattern of Microsoft teaming up with other Google rivals to damage them. But the first instance listed was actually the result of Google turning Microsoft down, as the email shows. That doesn?t not look good for Google.

Does that mean Google?s totally wrong and Microsoft is totally right? Of course not. But it sure makes Google look pretty rediculous. And it reinforces something that many observers think about Google?s position here: that they simply weren?t taking the patent situation too seriously until recently, and now they?re all up in arms about it.

http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/03/microsoft-just-kicked-google-in-the-nuts/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29

[LoveHateMachine]

Hold up.. I think I like the name of this related article better:

Google Threw A Punch, Microsoft Fires Back With A Missile

Ditto.

[xune]

What's even more awesome is how they chose to name their URL link:

http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/03/microsoft-just-kicked-google-in-the-nuts/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29

lolz

[xune]

Update.. Round 2!

Google Responds To Microsoft?s "Gotcha": They?re Diverting Attention With A Trick That Failed

MG SIEGLER
posted 11 hours ago34 Comments
This back and forth between Google and Microsoft is getting good.

Yesterday, Google wrote a post calling out Microsoft, Apple, Oracle, and others for using ?bogus? patents to try to kill Android. Some of the patents Google?s Chief Legal Officer David Drummond mentioned included the ones Microsoft acquired from Novell (not to be confused with Nortel, which happened later). When Microsoft saw this, two senior officials took to Twitter to effectively pants Google. You see, Microsoft had tried to get Google to partner with them to buy the Novell patents ? Google turned them down. And Microsoft had the email to prove it.

But there was an obvious reason for this rejection, which Microsoft conveniently left out, Google now says.

Drummond has addressed the pantsing incident in an update to his original blog post from yesterday. He kicks the update off with:

It?s not surprising that Microsoft would want to divert attention by pushing a false ?gotcha!? while failing to address the substance of the issues we raised.

But then comes the substance:

If you think about it, it?s obvious why we turned down Microsoft?s offer. Microsoft?s objective has been to keep from Google and Android device-makers any patents that might be used to defend against their attacks. A joint acquisition of the Novell patents that gave all parties a license would have eliminated any protection these patents could offer to Android against attacks from Microsoft and its bidding partners. Making sure that we would be unable to assert these patents to defend Android ? and having us pay for the privilege ? must have seemed like an ingenious strategy to them. We didn?t fall for it.

So what Drummond is saying is that Microsoft?s offer to team up with Google to buy the Novell patents was more or less a trick. By teaming up on the Novell patents, Google would have them, but they wouldn?t have been able to have been used to protect Android, because Microsoft would have had them too.

Should Google have just gone along with that anyway, since ultimately Microsoft did get them (along with Apple, Oracle, and EMC)? You could argue that. But fortunately for Google, the courts intervened in that deal and made Microsoft sell off the patents they bought and made the others in the group license the rest, Drummond notes.

This may go a bit deeper too. It?s conceivable that Microsoft knew Google would never go for this joint-acquisition plan, but offered it anyway so that when the DoJ did look into the deal, Microsoft would point to the offer sent Google?s way. These companies are very smart and calculating, don?t put something like this past either of them.

In his original post, Drummond said that the DoJ was also looking into the more recent Nortel patent acquisition by Microsoft, Apple, RIM, and others. Clearly, Google hopes the same type of thing will happen here, but that?s still being decided. While Apple was cleared by the DoJ to buy the patents ahead of the auction, Microsoft could face a similar ruling as the Novell situation since they already had a licensing agreement on the patents, just as they had on the Novell patents before they tried to buy them. We?ll see.

More importantly, this battle is not going to end anytime soon. Novell was part one, then things intensified significantly with the Nortel auction, part 2. But part 3 should be the most intense yet, as both Google and Apple are going after the InterDigital patents. The Nortel patent purse had over 6,000 patents, but InterDigital has over 8,800. If the winning bid on Nortel was $4.5 billion, InterDigital should be well north of $5 billion.

Hang on to your butts.

http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/04/the-greatest-trick-microsoft-never-pulled/


Round 3?
Microsoft responds.. Again:

Update: Well, once again, Frank Shaw, lead corporate communications for Microsoft, has taken to Twitter to tell Redmond's side of the story.

In several tweets he reiterates that Google rebuffed Microsoft's offer to tag team the patent-bidding process and claims that El Goog wanted Novell's IP all to itself -- so that it could sue others instead of using the portfolio to reduce patent-liability for all.

We don't know if that was Google's true intention, but we do enjoy seeing these two tech titans duke it out in a public forum. Keep it up, guys.

[LoveHateMachine]

Sounds like someone is a sore loser.

[Unicron Social]

Wonder what Google is getting scared about that they are doing this?