It seems rather ironic that after Apple had offered to pay Motorola $1 for every iPhone to license Motorola’s standard-essential patents, that some of the FTC’s staff have suggested that the agency’s commissioners should sue Google over their abuse of standard-essential patents. Apparently the staff believe that Google and their recently acquired subsidiary, Motorola, have violated antitrust laws by trying to prevent their competitors from accessing said patents. In particular they have pointed out both Apple and Microsoft as the competitors, and as some of you guys are aware, both Apple and Microsoft have had legal tussles with Motorola in the past.
Like we said earlier, Apple had offered to pay Motorola $1 for every iPhone, but it seems that Motorola wants more which could amount to $15 per phone sold, a whopping 1,500% more than what Apple is prepared to pay. This is an issue that the FTC have been investigating since June this year and whether they will go ahead with the lawsuit remains to be seen, but an official announcement regarding the matter is expected to be announced after the general election on the 6th of November.
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