Google's Defensive Acquisition of Patents

In early 2011, the Guardian's Florian Mueller argued that Google's patent portfolio of 576 may have been much too weak compared to Microsoft's patent stockpile of 3,094 at the time. Since then, Google has focused on buying up patent sources, including the controversial purchase of Motorola (on its fifth straight quarter of losses) for $12.5 billion. Google recently sold Motorola for $2.9 billion, keeping 17,000 of Motorola's patents which are valued at around $5 billion. In 2007, Google had only 38 patents but today it owns more than 51,000. This exponential growth in the ownership of patents by a company that largely believes that patents are "bogus, largely low-quality, and used in court by companies that can't innovate to hurt consumers and stifle true innovators" shows the how hostile the smartphone market has become. It is now a worthwhile investment for Google, though it appears to contradict the company's culture of openness, to spend absurd amounts of money for pieces of paper. The patents they own provide a strong litigation deterrent: the threat of a countersuit, which protects Android's legal position in the market. Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt has responded to the state of the market saying, "We have seen an explosion of Android devices entering the market and, because of our successes, competitors are responding with lawsuits as they cannot respond through innovations. I'm not too worried about this." One could argue that he is not worried due in large part to the massive number of patents they have acquired.