Google and Microsoft exchanged some words via social media on Thursday as the PR war over patents continued.
Google, which launched the first missive Wednesday via its blog, updated that post Thursday to respond to a claim by Microsoft.
Brad Smith, Microsoft’s general counsel, tweeted Wednesday evening: “Google says we bought Novell patents to keep them from Google. Really? We asked them to bid jointly with us. They said no.” Frank X. Shaw, Microsoft’s lead corporate communications, also posted a letter from Kent Walker, Google’s general counsel, refusing an offer from Microsoft to bid on the Novell patents. Then Walker tweeted: “Free advice for David Drummond – next time check with Kent Walker before you blog.
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That led David Drummond, who wrote Google’s initial post, to reply: “It’s not surprising that Microsoft would want to divert attention by pushing a false ‘gotcha!’ while failing to address the substance of the issues we raised.” Drummond went on to say that Microsoft’s objective was to eliminate any protection the Novell patents could offer against attacks from Microsoft and its bidding partners. “Making sure that we would be unable to assert these patents to defend Android — and having us pay for the privilege — must have seemed like an ingenious strategy to them. We didn’t fall for it.”
Drummond also points out that the U.S. Department of Justice has stepped in, forcing Microsoft to sell the patents. The DOJ is also “demanding that the winning group (Microsoft, Oracle, Apple, EMC) give a license to the open-source community. “This only reaffirms our point,” Drummond writers. “Our competitors are waging a patent war on Android and working together to keep us from getting patents that would help balance the scales.”
So far, there doesn’t appear to be any comment from Apple or Oracle, which were also mentioned in Google’s post on Wednesday.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, hronos7
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Posted on Thu, 04 Aug 2011 20:39:53 +0000 at http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/OrkZivX1XCo/
Comments: http://mashable.com/2011/08/04/google-and-microsoft-patent/#comments
Google, which launched the first missive Wednesday via its blog, updated that post Thursday to respond to a claim by Microsoft.
Brad Smith, Microsoft’s general counsel, tweeted Wednesday evening: “Google says we bought Novell patents to keep them from Google. Really? We asked them to bid jointly with us. They said no.” Frank X. Shaw, Microsoft’s lead corporate communications, also posted a letter from Kent Walker, Google’s general counsel, refusing an offer from Microsoft to bid on the Novell patents. Then Walker tweeted: “Free advice for David Drummond – next time check with Kent Walker before you blog.
.” That led David Drummond, who wrote Google’s initial post, to reply: “It’s not surprising that Microsoft would want to divert attention by pushing a false ‘gotcha!’ while failing to address the substance of the issues we raised.” Drummond went on to say that Microsoft’s objective was to eliminate any protection the Novell patents could offer against attacks from Microsoft and its bidding partners. “Making sure that we would be unable to assert these patents to defend Android — and having us pay for the privilege — must have seemed like an ingenious strategy to them. We didn’t fall for it.”
Drummond also points out that the U.S. Department of Justice has stepped in, forcing Microsoft to sell the patents. The DOJ is also “demanding that the winning group (Microsoft, Oracle, Apple, EMC) give a license to the open-source community. “This only reaffirms our point,” Drummond writers. “Our competitors are waging a patent war on Android and working together to keep us from getting patents that would help balance the scales.”
So far, there doesn’t appear to be any comment from Apple or Oracle, which were also mentioned in Google’s post on Wednesday.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, hronos7
More About: apple, Google, microsoft, oracle, patentsFor more Business & Marketing coverage:Follow Mashable Business & Marketing on TwitterBecome a Fan on FacebookSubscribe to the Business & Marketing channelDownload our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad
Posted on Thu, 04 Aug 2011 20:39:53 +0000 at http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/OrkZivX1XCo/
Comments: http://mashable.com/2011/08/04/google-and-microsoft-patent/#comments
