Why Google Bought Motorola in the First Place

The bullets below indicate Google's official statement of why they bought Motorola. 

• Google and Motorola Mobility together will accelerate innovation and choice in mobile computing. Consumers will get better phones at lower prices.
• Motorola Mobility’s patent portfolio will help protect the Android ecosystem. Android, which is open-source software, is vital to competition in the mobile device space, ensuring hardware manufacturers, mobile phone carriers, applications developers and consumers all have choice.

The third and unstated point, however, is that Motorola Mobility's patents will not only protect the Android ecosystem but also be used to attack the iPhone. It seems like Google wants to stockpile as many patents as possible, so that its own technologies are defensible while competitors' technologies are open to litigation. For almost a decade, the patent war has become more and more hostile. 

Companies employ a no-holds-barred method to their IP litigation, even when their actions are morally questionable. An outstanding example is the frequency of IP litigation in The Eastern District of Texas. It's obvious that plaintiffs want easy judicial processes and an uneducated jury. Although this kind of strategy is morally questionable, prominent companies want to do everything possible to protect themselves and slow competition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKVI4EO4SVM