"The two companies, competing for dominance of the smartphone market, have partnered after leading two separate groups this summer to buy some of Kodak's 1,100 imaging patents, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the process is private.The Apple-led group pursuing Kodak's patents included Microsoft and Intellectual Ventures Management LLC as of July, the people said, while Google's partners included patent- aggregation company RPX Corp. and Asian makers of Google's Android phones."
"The patents and patent applications, which were expected to fetch up to $1.5 billion, finally went for $4.5 billion after a fierce bidding war won by a consortium of Apple, Microsoft, BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM), Ericsson, Sony and EMC. Google, which ended up on the losing side after having started the auction process of Nortel's patents with a $900 million bid of its own, slammed Apple and Microsoft for "using patents as a weapon to stop innovation"."
""They have decided to come together in this process to reduce the cost of purchasing the Kodak patents, while meeting their business needs," said Ehrlickman."
Apple and Google formed a joint bid to purchase patents that Kodak placed up for auction. Each company had previously led separate bidding groups this summer to acquire portions of Kodak's 1,100 imaging patents. The Apple-led group included Microsoft and Intellectual Ventures Management LLC as of July. Google's partners included RPX Corp. and Asian makers of Android phones. The two groups had each offered less than $500 million before combining forces to present a larger bid. The collaboration follows a costly, high-stakes patent auction for Nortel's assets that resulted in a $4.5 billion sale.
Read at Gadgets 360
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]