In a post penned by Larry Page on Google’s company blog, the CEO explains why Google decided to shell out $12.5 billion to purchase smartphone vendor Motorola Mobility. While Page had plenty to say about Motorola’s extensive history and its leading role in Android’s explosive growth, he also points to what many believe to be one of the leading factors behind the deal: patents. “We recently explained how companies including Microsoft and Apple are banding together in anti-competitive p...

Verizon Communications has filed lawsuits against the Communications Workers of America union in five states in an effort to limit picketing, the Associated Press reported. In separate filings, the company has accused picketers in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Delaware of harassment, sabotage and of blocking access to its facilities. Verizon got a court order to limit picketing in Pennsylvania on Monday, and a similar order was granted in Delaware on Wednesday. More than 45,000 unio...

Apple’s claims that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet is a copycat device that infringes on Apple-owned patents have been widely reported. The Cupertino-based company has filed numerous patent complaints against Samsung, and it has even succeeded in temporarily blocking the sale of the 10-inch Honeycomb tablet across Europe and in Australia. Samsung isn’t the only tablet vendor in Apple’s sights, however, as Apple also recently filed a complaint against Motorola in Europe, FOSS Patents ...

The U.S. International Trade Commission on Monday said it would investigate a second patent complaint Apple filed recently against HTC. The complaint seeks to ban the importation and sale of multiple HTC devices that Apple alleges are infringing on its intellectual property. Three companies will be targeted in the Commission’s investigation — HTC Corp., HTC America, Inc. and Exedea, Inc. — and a target date for the completion of the investigation will be set within 45 days. The ITC ruled in a se...

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...

Apple and Microsoft are playing dirty, according to a new blog post by Google’s Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer David Drummond. Instead of attempting to build innovative products and features, Drummond says Apple and Microsoft are content with filing repeated patent complaints in an attempt to impede Android’s rapid growth. Apple, Microsoft and others are carrying out “a hostile, organized campaign against Android by Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and other companies, waged through b...

Apple has been fined by South Korea’s telecommunications regulator following the “Locationgate” scandal that caused public outrage earlier this year, Dow Jones reports. This marks the second time Apple has had to pay penalties resulting from the iOS location-tracking snafu. A South Korean lawyer sued Apple and was awarded $1 million won, or approximately $945 at the time, by a court this past June. It was discovered in April that the iPhone and some iPad models were secretly tracking user...

The U.S. International Trade Commission on Tuesday announced that it will launch an investigation into whether or not multiple Samsung products infringe on Apple patents. “The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) has voted to institute an investigation of certain electronic digital media devices and components thereof,” the Commission said in a statement. “The products at issue in this investigation include mobile phone handsets and tablet computers, in addition to components such as ...

As a result of a recent patent complaint filed in Australia by Apple, Samsung has agreed not to sell its Galaxy Tab 10.1 Honeycomb tablet in the region. The exact terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but we had a feeling that wouldn’t be the last we would hear on the subject. On Tuesday, Australian Android news site Ausdroid got Samsung’s statement on the matter and as expected, the South Korea-based company says its 10-inch tablet will soon see the light of day down under. “A Samsung ...

A U.S. District Judge in Texas has ruled that patent holding firm Personal Audio cannot seek additional damages from Apple relating to a patent that the Cupertino-based company was recently found to be infringing. Personal Audio was awarded $8 million last month when Texas judge Ron Clark ruled that Apple’s iPod was infringing one of its patents covering playlist implementation. Following the win, the holding firm filed a second lawsuit alleging that additional Apple devices such as the iPhone 4 and iPa...

Google’s general counsel Kent Walker apparently doesn’t see eye to eye with the rest of his company. “The tech industry has a significant problem,” Walker said earlier this week. “Software patents are kind of gumming up the works of innovation.” According to SEO by the Sea however, Google purchased 1,030 patents from IBM just two weeks before Walker made those comments. According to the report, the patents purchased cover a wide rage of IP, “from the fabrication and architecture of memor...

Patent holding firm Personal Audio LLC is suing Apple for patent infringement surrounding IP covering playlist implementation on multiple Apple devices. The firm was recently awarded $8 million from Apple by a Texas judge who found that the Cupertino-based company’s iPod made unauthorized use of Personal Audio’s IP. Now, the firm’s new suit alleges that additional Apple products are infringing on the same patent. Devices covered in the new complaint include the iPhone 4, the fourth-generatio...

Following the “Antennagate” scandal that cost Apple zero sales last year, a new “Locationgate” scandal took the media by storm earlier this year that ultimately cost Apple zero sales. It was discovered in late April that the iPhone and 3G-equipped iPads were secretly tracking and storing users’ locations. Apple issued a statement seven days later, claiming the culprit was a bug that would be addressed as soon as possible. Apple also said that it does not track its users or their ...