Patents War. Apple vs Google?

[candywriter]

BBC News:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14401826

In recent months Google has lost auctions for thousands of patents owned by Novell and Nortel, many of which relate to technologies that can be used in smartphones. Ownership of those patents went to consortia made up of many tech firms including Apple and Microsoft.

What do you guys make of this? Extrapolating to the future I wonder what this means for a Apple vs Google rivalry where there is more and more at stake.

[Eupatria]

Android is at risk.

[Stan]

It pisses me off.
But, this is business.
Cripple the competition as much as you can...

[Eupatria]

They are making a living by patents!!!!!

[Teknikal]

I think Apple is playing with fire and it's only a matter of time until they get burned but that's more based on them warring with Samsung than Google although I did read earlier in the week about Google buying up thousands of hardware patents.

I think any company resorting to legal means to prevent competition is pretty lame though it's almost like admitting you can't win fairly.

[candywriter]

Originally Posted by Teknikal

I think Apple is playing with fire and it's only a matter of time until they get burned but that's more based on them warring with Samsung than Google although I did read earlier in the week about Google buying up thousands of hardware patents.

I think any company resorting to legal means to prevent competition is pretty lame though it's almost like admitting you can't win fairly.

Yeah, I feel you on that but on the other hand it's almost like an arms race and if you don't buy out the patents you're left out in the cold... (and in this case the patents are like a parka)