Microsoft accuses Google of patent hypocrisy
Microsoft has said the reason Google did not join a consortium of companies set up to buy Novell's patents was because it wanted the patents for itself, in a plot to use them as weapons against others.
The accusation on Thursday was the latest salvo in an ongoing war of words between Microsoft and Google legal chief David Drummond, who had accused Microsoft, Apple and Oracle of ganging up on the open-source Android OS using "bogus patents".
Drummond's conspiracy accusation was published in a blog post on Wednesday, earning a quick rebuttal from Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith and PR chief Frank Shaw. The Microsoft executives said Google had been invited to join its rivals in purchasing a block of patents from Novell — demonstrating that the companies were not conspiring against Google — but that it had declined the offer.
On Thursday, Drummond hit back with an update to his original blog post. "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," he wrote.
"If you think about it, it's obvious why we turned down Microsoft's offer," Drummond continued. "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."
Drummond explained further: "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."
The Google executive then pointed to the fact that the US Department of Justice had to intervene to force the CPTN Holdings consortium — featuring Microsoft, Apple, EMC and Oracle — to license the Novell patents on fair terms to the open-source community. He said this proved that those companies were "waging a patent war on Android and working together to keep us from getting patents that would help balance the scales".
Again, it did not take long for Microsoft to respond. In a series of tweets, Shaw said Google was not disputing that it had been offered the chance to join CPTN Holdings. He claimed Google had declined because wanted the patents for itself, so that it could then use those patents to attack others.
"They wanted to buy something that they could use to assert against someone else. So partnering with others and reducing patent liability across industry is not something they wanted to help do," Shaw wrote.