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IBM: Google's best patent pal?

By | July 29, 2011, 8:56am PDT

IBM was awarded 5,896 patents just in 2010 and the company is an intellectual property factory. These patents could wind up being a partial cure to Google’s ongoing intellectual product headaches.

Bloomberg and others are reporting that Google has acquired 1,030 patents from IBM across a wide range of sectors. These various reports are following a find by a blog called SEO by the Sea.

It’s widely known that IBM is a patent machine and is happy to license its intellectual property. While it’s unclear how many wireless patents IBM has—we’re told a lot. IBM may not be able to cure Google’s patent woes, but it can certainly be like a pharmacy and dispense a few deals to ease the lawsuit pain.

Simply put, IBM has just enough patents to give Google some ammunition to fend off lawsuits. With the Nortel patent deal falling apart for Google, the search giant needs a few patent pals. IBM is that pal.

With IBM, Google can buy enough patents to put the lawsuit genie back in the bottle—at least somewhat.

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Google Inc., Patent, IBM Corp., Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic.

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Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan has nothing to disclose. He doesn’t hold investments in the technology companies he covers.

Biography

Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic. He was most recently Executive Editor of News and Blogs at ZDNet. Prior to that he was executive news editor at eWeek and news editor at Baseline. He also served as the East Coast news editor and finance editor at CNET News.com. Larry has covered the technology and financial services industry since 1995, publishing articles in WallStreetWeek.com, Inter@ctive Week, The New York Times, and Financial Planning magazine. He's a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and the University of Delaware.

For daily updates, follow Larry on Twitter.

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Without some serious help, Android might actually go down!
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RE: IBM: Google's best patent pal?
alasiri Updated - 13th Aug
@jdakula @WilErzl, of course Sun was very happy for Google to release Android. The CEO at the time (Schwartz) offered them congra tulations, committed to building a development environment for the platform and said that Google had put a rocket under the community's momentum. So your characterization of the Google/Oracle situation is way off. It's only since Oracle bought Sun that it's been an issue. I wonder why Oracle deleted Schwartz' post from their website?
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Jonathon13 24th Sep
@alasiri That's a good way of looking at it, it's always the same old with the big companies like google and sun. It's the same with the mobile industry.
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RE: IBM: Google's best patent pal?
shloy23 25th Sep
@alasiri Android has too bigger hold of the market now, I think it's people like Nokia with their Symbian platforms that need to worry. Goes to show you need to keep moving with the times! At least Apple aren't on their back like they are to Samsung, claiming they invented EVERYTHING.
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@alasiri
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epark732 4th Oct
@alasiri
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esm2012 6th Sep
@jdakula IBM is a patent machine but to say that Android might go down is kinda of ridiculous. Austin SEO
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RE: IBM: Google's best patent pal?
dbxcsp 23rd Sep
@esm2012 actually nobody mentioned that Android goes down. I think that Android is already so strong and has such a huge market share among mobile operating systems that a partnership with IBM only could create a win-win-situation.
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RE: IBM: Google's best patent pal?
baconman84 9th Feb
@esm2012 While it???s unclear how many wireless patents IBM has???we???re told a lot. IBM may not be able to cure Google???s patent woes, but it can certainly be like a pharmacy and dispense a few deals to ease the lawsuit pain. san jose plumbing
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RE: IBM: Google's best patent pal?
ripslyme00 16th Sep
@jdakula they will do fine as it is i reckon
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RE: IBM: Google's best patent pal?
Jlambert011 24th Sep
While it???s unclear how many wireless patents IBM has???we???re told a lot. IBM may not be able to cure Google???s patent woes, but it can certainly be like a pharmacy and dispense a few deals to ease the lawsuit pain.
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RE: IBM: Google's best patent pal?
Lavlas 3rd Nov
With Wp7 now fully baked, Android demise is a matter of time even without patent issues. Android UI is so 2005 and fragmentation and malware and no corporate success,pathetic battery, android is doomed by design.

Google's evil practices on privacy and hypocracy on IP rights must be stopped by law.

IBM is a 100 year old company and they should not trash their reputation St Louis Sign Companies by joining hands with thieves.
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RE: IBM: Google's best patent pal?
obitwo 5th Oct
@jdakula

IBM was awarded 5,896 patents just in 2010 and the company is an intellectual property factory. learn violin online These patents could wind up being a partial cure to Google???s ongoing intellectual product headaches.It???s widely glaucoma eyes drops known that IBM is a patent machine and is happy to license its intellectual property. While it???s unclear how many wireless patents IBM has???we???re told a lot. IBM may not be able to cure Google???s patent woes, but it can certainly be like a pharmacy and dispense a few deals to ease the lawsuit pain.
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RE: IBM: Google's best patent pal?
owlnet Updated - 29th Jul
With Wp7 now fully baked, Android demise is a matter of time even without patent issues. Android UI is so 2005 and fragmentation and malware and no corporate success,pathetic battery, android is doomed by design.

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RE: IBM: Google's best patent pal?
DonRupertBitByte Updated - 30th Jul
@owlnet

Maybe you should try to become famous with your prediction if you are so confident that makes you hate Google so much.

Otherwise, reality bites, Google and Android are here to stay long after you quit complaining.
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RE: IBM: Google's best patent pal?
krtinberg 30th Aug
@DonRupertBitByte I agree. Google looks like its gonna be here for the long run complaining won't change anything!
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RE: IBM: Google's best patent pal?
walterJR Updated - 31st Aug
@DonRupertBitByte
Android (or Google) depends largely on its big client Samsung and HTC. If both switch to others, is there any platform for android? The recent take over of Motorola seems to answer this. You are right, Google will continue to dominant. dog food coupons
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@DonRupertBitByte They sure are here to stay I would even say they are taking over the world
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RE: IBM: Google's best patent pal?
DonRupertBitByte 30th Jul
@owlnet

Keep dreaming.
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RE: IBM: Google's best patent pal?
kroguej@... 30th Jul
Wp7 is not grabbing market share which it desperately needs to be successful. No market share means it wont have the latest and greatest phones and won't have the large app base that android has. If android goes down, I guess it would be my next choice. I'm not going rim or apple, thats for sure.
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kroguej@... 30th Jul
I did a search for linux based phone OS's and came across Ali Cloud OS. It looks like it will run android applications and since its linux and based in china there shouldn't be any patent issues. Might be interesting to see how this one grows. Maybe some enterprising hackers will make it installable on our android phones.
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RE: IBM: Google's best patent pal?
mm71 30th Jul
Am not sure how much of IBM patents would help Google. There was this study a few months back on the MS patents being 3 times more valuable than IBM patents as IBM has a lot of services patents. Am not sure what wireless patents has in their arsenal to help Google fend off the rest, however, I wouldn't count on a whole lot of relevant patents from IBM.
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I doubt it will matter if Google continue to abandon 'partners'
WilErz 30th Jul
It's interesting that this is coming after Oracle's lawsuit against Google, and gives further hints about how Google view their 'partners'. They've been willing to let hardware manufacturers like HTC and Samsung suffer the consequences of their (Google's) misdeeds, and only became interested in paying or negotiating for the IP they use after it started to look like they might run into legal problems themselves (i.e. having to pay royalties and damages to Oracle).

If Google are taking steps towards paying for the IP they use (e.g. by cross-licensing), that's a good thing, but their convoluted approach is rather funny. Instead of simply paying the IP owners like a normal firm would do, they're apparently going round trying to buy IP they can use in some sort of exchange or cross-licensing agreement. Perhaps they think it will be cheaper that way, but they could very well be wrong.
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RE: IBM: Google's best patent pal?
DonRupertBitByte 31st Jul
@WilErz

If you have not been reading the stuff coming from Florian Mueller, the Oracle lawsuit is not a slam dunk for Oracle despite their bravado. Google is making them work for it and the lawsuit should turn out to be very interesting.
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RE: IBM: Google's best patent pal?
dazweeja 9th Aug
@WilErzl, of course Sun was very happy for Google to release Android. The CEO at the time (Schwartz) offered them congratulations, committed to building a development environment for the platform and said that Google had put a rocket under the community's momentum. So your characterization of the Google/Oracle situation is way off. It's only since Oracle bought Sun that it's been an issue. I wonder why Oracle deleted Schwartz' post from their website?
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I won't jinx Google because Im loving my droid phone! And an avid user of the ice cream sandwich. (Why'd they name those in such yummy stuff..?) Shaw Capital Management Online
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