Google certainly bought itself a number of valuable patents today, when it paid $12.5 billion for the purchase of Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. The new CEO Dennis Woolside has vowed to focus on few but big bets.
All this confirms the suspicion that Google now has an arsenal of valuable patents that it may use to countersue Apple and a host of other companies who have filed patent infringement cases against it. In fact, patent battles in the tech world are fought with counter-patent battles as everyone seems to be copying everybody else.
The Patent Wars infographic from the folks at Visual.ly clearly shows how convoluted the battle ground really is, and it is quite possible that corporate lawmakers in each of these companies are tearing their hair apart trying to guess which company would file a counter lawsuit against them. If you are into investing in any of these technology companies like RIM, Nokia, Apple, Google, Motorola, Samsung and others, you might better be aware who is suing whom and for what cost.
It also helps to know who is purchasing patents from which company, and if those patents can legally be sold without another company suing both the seller and the purchaser. The infographic clearly shows how complex and convoluted the whole scene really is. Before you make investments of any kind, it helps to take a good look at this infographic and understand who is connected to whom and at what depth and intensity.
