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Regardless of publicly belittling software patents and lobbying for patent reform that will make it tough for firms to make use of such patents in patent-based lawsuits, Google is constructing a formidable arsenal of patents of its personal at a a lot quicker charge than in earlier years. Whereas the transfer could also be perceived as an try to defend its Android cell working system that is underneath assault from rivals together with Apple and Microsoft – in addition to to assault them again – it might seem that Google is defending all of its pursuits, throughout quite a lot of markets that it is presently a participant in. MIT’s Technology Review reports that this 12 months alone, Google is on observe to be awarded about 1,800 patents, placing Google on the highest 10 patent recipients listing, forward of firms like GE and Intel. Google is now No. 3 or No. 4 on that listing behind the likes of IBM and Microsoft. To assist illustrate what a dramatic change that is from the outdated Google, in 2007 when the iPhone was first launched, Google was awarded solely 38 patents.
Steve Jobs famously mentioned that with the iPhone, Apple decided to “patent it all,” after dropping a $100 million iPad lawsuit. And Apple proved to be the primary opponent in courts of Android, wining a number of favorable verdicts in circumstances against Samsung, HTC and Motorola within the U.S. and world wide.
Microsoft, one other vital Google rival, is reportedly making around $2 billion a year from licensing deals inked with a large number of Android device makers.
Google patents chart versus the competitors | Picture supply: USPTO through MIT’s Know-how Assessment
It isn’t 2003 anymore, when Google was awarded solely 4 patents all 12 months. Now, the corporate sits on a trove of round 51,000 patents, and it’s now awarded a mean of 10 patents each day the U.S. Patent & Trademark workplace is open. In November 2013, Google was awarded 177 patents. The corporate’s patent conflict chest additionally contains over 17,000 patents and seven,000 patent functions from Motorola, which have been acquired when Google purchased the company for $12.5 billion last year.