We can’t say we didn’t see this one coming. It looks like Google just got itself in some hot water with the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC is getting ready to sue the search giant over allegedly abusing the patents that it acquired in the Motorola deal to block rival products over technologies that have become industry standards, according to Bloomberg. The source who informed Bloomberg of the matter, says the FTC is going after Google because it feels Google is using its time to ban imports of devices, instead of licensing agreements.
A Google spokesperson told Bloomberg that the company takes its “commitments to license on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms very seriously and are happy to answer any questions” the FTC might have.
Motorola owns a bunch of patents that are considered reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND), which are essential to the way technology is used in the industry today. These patents get licensed to many companies for a small percentage. This is yet another time-consuming legal issue for a company whose been playing defense for years from the likes of Microsoft and Apple, and now it has to deal with the government as well.
[Bloomberg; via Businessweek, BGR]