It’s no secret that Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has been in the market to buy some patents for several months now. Now it looks like Google finally found what it’s looking for. The search giant has purchased more than 1,000 patents from the largest U.S. patent-holder of all: IBM.
If there’s any company with patents to spare, it’s surely IBM. Big Blue has topped the list of companies getting the most U.S. patent grants every year for the past 18 years. In 2009, IBM received 4,914 U.S. patents, an all-time record.
The reason Google needs so many patents is to fend off potential attacks by competitors. As Google GC Kent Walker explained in an April blog post, “[O]ne of a company’s best defenses against this kind of litigation is (ironically) to have a formidable patent portfolio, as this helps maintain your freedom to develop new products and services.”
Walker added: “Google is a relatively young company, and although we have a growing number of patents, many of our competitors have larger portfolios given their longer histories.”
No comments:
Post a Comment