The Guardian Reports: Google has accused Apple, Microsoft, Oracle and "other companies" of trying to make Android smartphones more expensive to consumers by running a "hostile, organised campaign" against it by using "bogus patents" acquired from the bankrupt Canadian company Nortel and their existing patent holdings.
Its chief legal officer, David Drummond, alleges that the companies are effectively imposing a "tax" to push up the price of Android devices. "Microsoft and Apple have always been at each other's throats, so when they get into bed together you have to start wondering what's going on,"Drummond wrote in a blog post.
But Microsoft has hit back, with its general counsel Brad Smith claiming on Twitter that Microsoft invited Google to bid jointly for the Nortel patents – and was turned down. Representatives from Apple and Oracle declined to comment.
Drummond alleges that the rival companies are using an "anti-competitive strategy [which] is also escalating the cost of patents way beyond what they're actually worth" and using them to stifle innovation.
Drummond writes that "in this instance we thought it was important to speak out and make it clear that we're determined to preserve Android as a competitive choice for consumers, by stopping those who are trying to strangle it".
He asserts that: "Microsoft and Apple's winning $4.5bn (£2.7bn) for Nortel's patent portfolio was nearly five times larger than the pre-auction estimate of $1bn. Fortunately, the law frowns on the accumulation of dubious patents for anti-competitive means – which means these deals are likely to draw regulatory scrutiny, and this patent bubble will pop."
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