Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-0816-motorola-phone-patents–20110816,0,6973280.story
Google Inc.’s $12.5 billion deal to buy Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. has more to do with its legal strategy than innovation, top executives confirmed Monday.
The acquisition would give Google more leverage in negotiations with Apple and other competitors by threatening to charge royalties. Google also could use the patents to wage its own legal attack.
“It’s an escalation of the patent wars,” said Robert Merges, director of the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology at the University of California at Berkeley. “Google is raising the stakes.”