Google is reportedly facing antitrust allegations over restricted access to smartphone patents the company owns.
According to an article published by Bloomberg, a "majority" of the FTC's five commissioners may recommend a lawsuit against Google sometime after the presidential election on November 6. Apparently, there are mounting concerns that Google is using patents it acquired with the purchase of Motorola to block the import of products made by Apple and Microsoft.
While the FTC declined to comment on the report, Google spokeswoman Niki Fenwick stated that Google takes its "commitments to license on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms very seriously" and would be willing to answer "any questions". It appears that the U.S. government may be cracking on an industry that is currently focused on using lawsuits as a critical measure to compete in the U.S. market place. Bloomberg noted that the Department of Justice will be investigating Samsung's claims of industry-standard patent claims, while the FTC zeroes in on Google's Motorola Mobility unit.
Google is currently estimated to hold about 75 percent of the smartphone platform market.
/sarcasm
You need to stop living underneath a rock. The entire tech business is a patent warzone.
Google commands 75% of the market on a product it gives away for free and until recently was on Apple's own hardware. Google only filed suit againt Apple because apparently that's the only way they'll talk to any other company.
Apple on the other hand constantly tries to block products and filed a 2 billion suit against Samsung. On top of that they remove any competition from the Istore. Why aren't they doing anything about that?
PS I would make fun of MS but they don't try to block products like Apple, they're market share is tiny, and they're open to everyone (they're not as draconian as Apple).
Why else would the FTC go after a company for merging with another company when it was approved BY THE SAME GOVERNMENT! And go after Google and not Apple when it actively crushes competition through legal means.
Agreed. Except in Google/Motorola's case, Apple has refused to license the patents. They've just been selling their products without licensing. Their latest "offer" was $1 per device (a ridiculously low 0.2%) with no penalty for hundreds of millions of past devices for which they've illegally never paid a dime. What else is a patent-holder supposed to do when the other party won't play ball like this except seek a ban?
Yes some other companies are licensing for probably around $1 per device. But that's in exchange for cross-licensing other patents. Apple refuses to cross-license.
Why else would the FTC go after a company for merging with another company when it was approved BY THE SAME GOVERNMENT! And go after Google and not Apple when it actively crushes competition through legal means.
Google commands 75% of the market on a product it gives away for free and until recently was on Apple's own hardware. Google only filed suit againt Apple because apparently that's the only way they'll talk to any other company.
Apple on the other hand constantly tries to block products and filed a 2 billion suit against Samsung. On top of that they remove any competition from the Istore. Why aren't they doing anything about that?
PS I would make fun of MS but they don't try to block products like Apple, they're market share is tiny, and they're open to everyone (they're not as draconian as Apple).