Google Snaps Up IBM Patents

Andrew R. Hickey

September 15, 2011, 04:12 PM EDT

According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Web site, Google has bought 1,023 patents from Big Blue, nearly doubling the total number of patents it's acquired from the tech giant this year. In July, Google bought 1,030 patents from IBM.

The latest round of patent purchases, made on August 17, covers various technologies and includes patents for wireless technology, circuit design, Java scripting, desktop hardware, server hardware and Web searching.

It is unclear exactly how Google intends to use its newly acquired patents, but it is likely Google will leverage them to beef up its Google Android mobile operating system and further push its cloud computing agenda.

Google is also amassing patents to protect it from vicious patent litigation in which Google is being sued by several rivals, including Apple, Nokia and Oracle for patent violations.

The major patent push also comes just after Google acquired Motorola Mobility, Motorola’s mobile device unit, for $12.5 billion. The Motorola Mobility buy added 17,000 existing patents and roughly 7,500 pending patents to Google's patent lineup.

Along with stocking up on patents, Google also sold five patents to Android device maker HTC, which leveraged those patents to sue Apple for patent infringement. Meanwhile, mobile device patents are at the center of contentious litigation between Samsung and Apple over the Galaxy S smartphone line in which Apple claims patent infringement from Samsung and Samsung has filed countersuits.