The Rockstar consortium that acquired Nortel's patents has made its move, suing Google and its handset partners for infringing on search-related IP.

Sarah Thomas, Director, Women in Comms

November 1, 2013

2 Min Read
Rockstar Patent Holders Sue Google & Friends

Nearly two years after acquiring bankrupt Nortel's treasure trove of wireless patents, the Rockstar group is making its move, filing seven lawsuits against Google and its partners in a federal court in the Eastern District of Texas on Friday.

The Rockstar consortium, made up of Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT), Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), BlackBerry (formerly RIM), Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC), and Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE), acquired 4,000 patents from Nortel in 2011, spanning all ranges of 4G wireless technology, for $4.5 billion. Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) also attempted to the buy the valuable patents, but ultimately was outbid. (See DoJ OK's $4.5B Nortel Patent Sale and Apple, Google Seek Patent Shields.)

So far, the consortium has yet to make use of what could be a powerful weapon. But today the group filed suit against Google and seven of its handset partners, claiming its Android operating system violates seven of its patents, all related to its "Associative Search Engine" patent that produces search-related advertisements.

The other companies in the suit are AsusTek Computer Inc. , High Tech Computer Corp. (HTC) (Taiwan: 2498), Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. , LG Electronics Inc. (London: LGLD; Korea: 6657.KS) , Pantech Co. Ltd. , Samsung Corp. , and ZTE Corp. (Shenzhen: 000063; Hong Kong: 0763).

Why this matters
This day was inevitable since Rockstar beat out Google in acquiring Nortel's patents. But while the mobile patent wars have been going on for years now, this case could take them to an entirely new level, affecting the entire Android ecosystem and the licensing fees they have to pay.

Google has its own patents trove as well, including those it acquired with Motorola Mobility, so it could be another long, drawn-out court case. (See Google Reveals Moto's Patent Price.)

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— Sarah Reedy, Senior Editor, Light Reading

About the Author(s)

Sarah Thomas

Director, Women in Comms

Sarah Thomas's love affair with communications began in 2003 when she bought her first cellphone, a pink RAZR, which she duly "bedazzled" with the help of superglue and her dad.

She joined the editorial staff at Light Reading in 2010 and has been covering mobile technologies ever since. Sarah got her start covering telecom in 2007 at Telephony, later Connected Planet, may it rest in peace. Her non-telecom work experience includes a brief foray into public relations at Fleishman-Hillard (her cussin' upset the clients) and a hodge-podge of internships, including spells at Ingram's (Kansas City's business magazine), American Spa magazine (where she was Chief Hot-Tub Correspondent), and the tweens' quiz bible, QuizFest, in NYC.

As Editorial Operations Director, a role she took on in January 2015, Sarah is responsible for the day-to-day management of the non-news content elements on Light Reading.

Sarah received her Bachelor's in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She lives in Chicago with her 3DTV, her iPad and a drawer full of smartphone cords.

Away from the world of telecom journalism, Sarah likes to dabble in monster truck racing, becoming part of Team Bigfoot in 2009.

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