If Google really only did love Motorola for its patents, then it seems the company’s relationship with the iconic mobile phone manufacturer won’t end happily ever after. A new report from Bloomberg notes that Google’s $12.4 billion investment in Motorola looks even worse this week after a federal judge ruled that Microsoft “owes only pennies in royalties per sale of each Xbox video-gaming system and Windows operating system instead of the potential billions of dollars Google sought in a patent-infringement case.” The latest blow to Motorola’s patent portfolio value comes after Google agreed with the Federal Trade Commission late last year to not use its industry standard Motorola patents as weapons in intellectual property suits.
Rodney Sweetland, a patent attorney at Duane Morris, tells Bloomberg that the diminished value of Motorola’s patent portfolio makes Google’s decision to fork over $12.4 billion to acquire the company dubious at best. “It wasn’t an irrational decision at the time but they’ve gotten nothing but heartbreak for that money,” said Sweetland. “Should they have bought? Not at that price.”
