Out of Motorola Mobility’s 17,000 (and 7,500 Pending) Patents, 18 Will be Key to Protecting Android

After it was announced that Google would acquire Motorola Mobillity, I wondered exactly what patents Google had their sights on. Number wise, this upcoming acquisition will bring in 17,000 existing patents and another 7,000 that are still pending from Motorola Mobility.

Out of the 17,000 patents, it seems 18 of them may be the most useful to defend Android. David Mixon, a patent lawyer at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, says this group of patents encompasses technology essential to the mobile-device industry including location services, antenna designs, e-mail transmission, touchscreen motions, software-application management and third generation wireless. To be a little more specific, the article states:

One patent from 2001 disables a “touch sensitive” sensor when a smartphone is near a user’s head to prevent inadvertent hang-ups or dialing. Another from 1994 aims to increase data storage, while a third enables users to control when a global positioning system sends their location data over a network.

In addition to the Apple battle, Motorola Mobility proposed that Microsoft has infringed on some of its patents over video technology and is looking to block imports of the Xbox video-game console. Peter Misek, an analyst with Jefferies & Co., says it as simple as possible stating “This is a war”.

With that said, the Google acquisition isn't approved yet, so there may be a ways to go for this battle. I hope that the same amount of energy that's going into these battles is also being put into new ideas. That statement applies to all the manufactures as everyone seems to be tied up in these battles with each other. Protecting technology and ideas are important, but I hope it will not hinder what's really important to the consumers, which is competition. Check out the article for yourself and see what you think. What do you see as the end result of Google's acquisition?