Widening Scrutiny of Google’s Smartphone Patents

The following is an excerpt from an article in:


The New York Times
Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Widening Scrutiny of Google’s Smartphone Patents

By STEVE LOHR

For more than a year, the Federal Trade Commission has been conducting a broad antitrust investigation into the way Google runs its Internet search and search advertising businesses. But in recent months it has added another investigation into Google’s competitive behavior.

This time, the focus is on phones — specifically, on patents that apply to lucrative smartphone technology, and the conduct of Google’s Motorola Mobility subsidiary.

The F.T.C. issued subpoenas in June seeking information from Google and smartphone rivals including Apple and Microsoft, and it questioned representatives of the companies as recently as a few weeks ago, said people briefed on the investigation.

Google owns patents covering communications and data-handling technologies that are crucial for the basic operation of smartphones and tablets — what are known as standard-essential patents.

The investigators are scrutinizing the company’s policies for licensing these patents and suing other companies that it claims are infringing on them, said these people, who spoke on the condition that they not be identified.

Google’s Motorola unit pledged to technology standards organizations that it would license the patents to others on “fair and reasonable” terms to stimulate the growth of the industry, benefiting all companies.

Bloomberg reported in June that the F.T.C. had opened an investigation in this area. Since then, the agency inquiry has progressed, and the use of standard-essential patents has been an issue in several court cases and before Congress.

Google said in a statement on Tuesday: “We take our commitments to license on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms very seriously, and we are happy to answer any questions.”

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