Microsoft’s Communications boss Frank X. Shaw on Thursday responded to an update posted by Google’s Chief Legal Officer David Drummond, which was written in response to Microsoft’s General Counsel Brad Smith’s response to Drummond’s initial claim that Microsoft and Apple were playing dirty with patents. Catch all that? Here’s the gist of it: Google’s David Drummond wrote on Wednesday that Microsoft, Apple and others were “banding together to acquire Novell’s old p...

Apple sat quiet following Google Chief Legal Officer David Drummond’s rant yesterday, as it always does, but Microsoft was not content letting Drummond air his grievances without responding. Drummond on Wednesday penned a post on Google’s blog claiming that Apple, Microsoft and other companies are joining together to “strangle” Android with patent complaints. With all of the patent-related lawsuits against Android partners right now, this certainly seems like a valid complaint. High...

A group of companies including Apple, Microsoft, Research In Motion, Sony, EMC and Ericsson offered the winning bid in an auction that will net them Nortel’s extensive portfolio of patents. The bankrupt telecommunications company held roughly 6,000 patents, and the six-company consortium’s winning bid came in at $4.5 billion. Among the big losers were Google, which opened the bidding at $900 million, and Intel. Patents within the massive cache cover a wide range of technologies including wireless...

The business of smartphone production is starting to look more like the a John Grisham legal novel. While handset makers try to out-innovate each other with high-end, spec-heavy handsets consumers will flock to, lawyers are trying to out-flank each other with patent suits and red-tape. No longer can you have an armada of talented engineers and a driven executive team, you also must possess a war chest of hardware and software patents to prevent your company from entering litigation limbo — just Google t...

Canada-based Nortel, once North America’s largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer, filed for bankruptcy in January 2009 after a turnaround effort failed. As part of its bankruptcy proceedings, Nortel will sell its LTE and CDMA assets to Nokia Siemens for a cool $650 million. The acquisition will improve Nokia Siemen’s position in both North America and the growing LTE business. The acquisition is subject to approval from both the US bankruptcy court and the Ontario Superior Court of Just...

Earlier this month, Nokia quietly discontinued production of its N810 WiMAX Edition internet tablet and recalled unsold units from distribution partners. The move was a big one where Sprint and Clearwire are concerned as despite slow sales, the N810 WiMAX Edition was one of the most widely available mobile devices beyond laptop cards to tout WiMAX compatibility. While Clearwire continues to push forward with its WiMAX roll out, another blow came Thursday from Nortel as the company announced it would be discon...