We did invite Google to join patent bid, says Microsoft

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman','Bitstream Charter',Times,serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding: 0.6em;"> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="150" mce_src="http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/2171/microsofttweet200200.jpg" src="http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/2171/microsofttweet200200.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="200" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Microsoft claims that it did ask Google to join the Nortel patent bid along with Apple and Oracle, but Google declined.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Frank Shaw, Microsoft's corporate communications head, took to Twitter to post a screenshot of an email from Kent Walker, Google's general counsel, in which the company decides not to join the patent coalition.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The email, sent in October 2010, reads, "After talking with people here, it sounds as though for various reasons a joint bid wouldn't be advisable for us on this one."</div> <h4 style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 1.2em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Microhard</span></h4> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The snarky tweet from Microsoft comes in response to Google's spiky blog post that accuses the tech giants of carrying out a "hostile, organised campaign against Android" by buying up the patents.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Microsoft, Apple and Oracle in a group known as CPTN bought the patents for $3.5 billion more than the predicted price.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Google hinted in its blog post that "these deals are likely to draw regulatory scrutiny", which suggests that it has its legal teams raring to fight any patent claims tooth and nail.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> While one email doesn't give us a clear picture of the situation, it certainly achieves Microsoft's aim of making Google look a bit silly.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Who can really be the winner in this great patent war? Not, we suspect, the buyers of phones.</div> </div> </span></div>

We did invite Google to join patent bid, says Microsoft

Microsoft claims that it did ask Google to join the Nortel patent bid along with Apple and Oracle, but Google declined. Frank Shaw, M...

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