14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft and Google are continuing their public spat over patents, with each company trying to out-talk the other. While everyone enjoys a nice, dirty and public fight every once in a while - it's not the first time the two companies have done this - there's not much meat to either side's arguments.
Google hit first with a post from one of its top layers David Drummond which accused several companies, Microsoft in particular, of abusing patents to block Android from competing.
As an example, he used the recent Nortel patents bid, which Microsoft, Apple and others won, and the older Novell patents bid, which Microsoft, Apple and others won.
Google said that all of these patents are being gobbled up as weapons against Android as well as to prevent Google from amassing a patent portfolio of itself that it can use as deterrent against lawsuits.
Microsoft would have none of it though, responding that it asked Google to bid on the Novell patents which it declined, implying that Google's claims are misleading.
Drummond responded to this in an update to his original post, saying that Microsoft's offer of a joint bid was a trap and that it didn't make sense for Google to partner with the software giant since it couldn't have used those patents as defense.
"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 said in the updated post.
"If you think about it, it's obvious why we turned down Microsoft’s offer. Microsoft's objective has been to keep from Google and Android device-makers any patents that might be used to defend against their attacks," he said.
Google's logic seems a bit convoluted in this, if indeed they would have bought the patents together, the patents wouldn't have been any use in defending against lawsuits, but they couldn't have been used against Google either.
With Microsoft, Apple, Oracle and others getting them, Google was left in the open. Luckily for the search company, the US Department of Justice intervened and ordered the companies to open-source the technologies covered by the patents.
In any case, Microsoft has responded to Google's response, by pointing out just that - Google didn't want to join Microsoft because then it couldn't have used those patents as assets.
"We offered Google the opportunity to bid with us to buy the Novell patents; they said no," Microsoft's Frank X. Shaw tweeted.
"Why? BECAUSE they wanted to buy something that they could use to assert against someone else," he said.
"SO partnering with others & reducing patent liability across industry is not something they wanted to help do," he added.
Which is what Google said, in fact, the only difference is that Microsoft is implying that this is a bad thing while Google is saying that this was a smart move by avoiding Microsoft's trap.
Whichever version you prefer, a few things are very clear. Google is only now realizing that it failed to move fast to get its hands on patents it needs to defend its Android business and is appealing to the public for 'justice.'
And, while Google may be right in saying that (some) software patents are bad, it feels as if the company only started standing up for this once it realized the very bad position it's in.