Google Buys IBM Patents

pbahra writes "Google said Friday that it has purchased technology patents from IBM as the Web-search giant stocks up on intellectual property to defend itself against lawsuits. 'Like many tech companies, at times we'll acquire patents that are relevant to our business,' a Google spokesman said in a statement. The purchase was reported earlier by the blog SEO by the Sea, which said Google in mid-July recorded the acquisition of more than 1,000 patents with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The patents involve the 'fabrication and architecture of memory and microprocessing chips,' computer architecture including servers and routers and online search engines, among other things. The Google spokesman declined to comment on the purchase price. It wasn't immediately clear which of the patents might be useful to Google to shield against lawsuits."

Comments

Build custom Google chips???

[madhatter256]

Since some of the patents involve fabrication.... does google plan on building their own chips and not fully rely on other chip manufacturers for their hardware?

Re:Build custom Google chips???

[WelshRarebit]

Then why did they just spend so much money (potentially billions of dollars) purchasing these patents?

Re:Build custom Google chips???

[Jonner]

Google is saying the purpose of obtaining patents such as these is so they have more defense against patent attacks. I think that's probably true at the moment. What I wonder is how long it will take Google to amass enough of an arsenal to decide they can be a patent bully like Apple, Oracle, Microsoft and many others. In any case, these patents are nothing more than corporate weapons and doing nothing to promote innovation.

Re:Build custom Google chips???

[Thantik]

Countersuing IS using them. Countersuing is a defensive move and has nothing to do with patent trolling, troll.

Google vs Oracle

[auLucifer]

Oracle/Sun hardware? Say hello to Google!

Re:Google vs Oracle

[bill_mcgonigle]

Oracle/Sun hardware? Say hello to Google!

I think Oracle would sooner can SPARC than not get a distributed database patents cross-licensing deal with Google. Java is just a club to beat Google over the head with.

Thwack.

From innovation to consolidation

[David Gerard]

Companies are against software patents when they start up, because they use innovation instead.

When they run out of steam to innovate, they begin to consolidate.

Is this Google running out of steam and buying into the big company software patent detente?

Re:From innovation to consolidation

[geekoid]

I can't answer that specifically,; however companies do nede to protect themselves and that seems to be the case ehre.
Of course when they are larger they by patents, because that is when they ahve the money to do it.

By your logic, IBM would have stopped innovating 30 years ago.

Re:From innovation to consolidation

[fast turtle]

It sounds like most of the patents Google bought are Hardware Patents - IE Physical products instead of Imaginary Products such as Software Algorthyms

Re:From innovation to consolidation

[s4ndm4n]

I don't think so at all. I think this is Google playing it smart and getting in position to make some big moves, although I can't in any way speculate on what, I'm no tech expert. But that being said, based on their latest stuff, they haven't stopped running out of ides.

Re:From innovation to consolidation

[oGMo]

When they run out of steam to innovate, they begin to consolidate.

I think the real sign they run out of innovation is they begin to sue people or businesses for "using their ideas" rather than moving on to new ones. Call be back when Google starts doing this.

Re:From innovation to consolidation

[oGMo]

Contrarily, I think Apple is a perfect example. They were innovating at least as much as Google. (If you call "making slightly better webapps than everyone else for ad revenue" innovative, then "making shiny mp3 players, smart phones, and tablets with mass appeal" can be innovative, too. Let's not belabor the definition.)

However, lately it seems, possibly due to a shortage of Steve, things may be going less well. Iteratively new stuff, but nothing really new, and there seems to be a "dumbing down" trend. Final Cut X is a joke by all accounts. Lion seems to be going in the "your desktop is the biggest iPhone" direction. Lion Server seems to have lost its tools and its appeal. The iPhone 4 may be the "perfect iPhone" with a great screen and video chat, and everyone wants the iPhone 5, but what is the 5 really going to have?

Is Apple really suing over lost sales or brand dilution because of "near-exact replicas"? Or do they just not have anything else to fall back on? Do they have a next idea to move on to? These should be last years, out-of-style designs, if they're really innovating. It is not obvious that Apple is rapidly innovating, or innovating at all.

Re:From innovation to consolidation

[Unequivocal]

In the retail market and from a net revenue perspective, you've got a point, but I do want to point out that it's Google buying a *thousand* patents from IBM and not the other way around..

Google is the fourth-largest maker of servers

[burleywinz]

I learned this about a month ago and was a little stunned by it. http://www.zoliblog.com/2006/07/02/google-is-the-worlds-fourth-largest-server-manufacturer/

Re:Google is the fourth-largest maker of servers

[openfrog]

Thanks for the link, which leads to the blog of a Google Engineer ...Perusing... MY!!!! Look at what Google employee's do in their free time:

http://neil.fraser.name/news/2011/04/28/

Admirable.