Remember way back in 2011 when the Rockstar Consortium bought up the bankrupt Nortel Network’s patent portfolio ? Well that deal has finally blossomed into several new lawsuits between Rockstar, made up of Apple, Microsoft, BlackBerry, Ericsson, and Sony, on one side and Google , Samsung, HTC, Huawei, ZTE, Pantech, and AsusTek on the other.
The lawsuits allege that the named companies infringe on various patents now owned by the Rockstar Consortium. Nortel had a vast portfolio, with 6,000 patents covering wireless, data networking, optical, voice, and Internet technology. Google in particular is accused of infringing on seven patents related to matching advertising with Internet search terms.
The bad blood here stems all the way back to June 2011, when Google was Rockstar’s chief competition for Nortel’s patents. Google bid $4.4 billion for the patents on offer, but lost out in the auction to the $4.5 billion bid from the Rockstar Consortium. Following that loss, Google went on to purchase Motorola Mobility , which came with its own set of patents, the following year for $12.5 billion.
Lawsuits are an unfortunately common part of business nowadays and it’s no surprise seeing the members of the Rockstar Consortium use their patents as weapons. Google’s Android mobile operating system, which is used by Samsung and HTC among others, is the dominant force in the mobile market and Apple, Microsoft, and BlackBerry would all love to knock their rival down a few pegs.
