Google has filed a formal complaint with European Union and wants regulators to look into what they are calling, collusion between Microsoft, Nokia, and notorious patent troll MOSAID.
Nokia recently transfered over twelve hundred patents to MOSAID which were mostly essential wireless patents. It’s key to mention, revenues generated from licensing agreements with the patents could exceed the company’s total revenues dating back over 37 years in business.
John Lindgren, President and CEO of MOSAID Technologies comments on the extreme value of the patent collection:
“This is a transformative event for MOSAID which will drive significant revenue growth and shareholder value over the next decade, and will create exciting new opportunities for MOSAID as one of the world’s premier licensing organizations,”
“This is one of the strongest standards-essential wireless portfolios available on the market, and we are thrilled that we have acquired this outstanding portfolio and have the opportunity to monetize it,”
Google addresses their issue with MOSAID, Nokia, and Microsoft in their EU complaint:
“Nokia and Microsoft are colluding to raise the costs of mobile devices for consumers, creating patent trolls that side-step promises both companies have made. They should be held accountable, and we hope our complaint spurs others to look into these practices.”
Microsoft didn’t waste anytime responding to the allegations from Google and issued a letter of their own refuting the claims. Not only do they dismiss the accusation, but they raise their own concern over Google controlling over 95% of mobile search and advertising also revolving around standard essential patents.
Microsoft comments regarding Google’s allegations to the EU:
“Google is complaining about patents when it won’t respond to growing concerns by regulators, elected officials and judges about its abuse of standard-essential patents, and it is complaining about antitrust in the smartphone industry when it controls more than 95% of mobile search and advertising. This seems like a desperate tactic on their part.”
Google has also shares their official EU complaint with regulators in the United States. Nokia recently struck back against the complaint calling it a waste of time and resources on Google’s behalf. So we can expect some kind of investigation to take place in the coming months. We’ll keep you updated as soon as more news becomes available.