Google, which last month failed to grab a huge portfolio of Nortel patents, has bought more than 1,000 patents from IBM. The new purchase boosts Google's intellectual property portfolio which currently has just 700 patents. The loss of Nortel patents was a big blow to Google as the search engine was willing to pay any price to beef up its bank of patents - which is the smallest among major wireless players. Since Nortel-patented technology is also used in Google Android smart phones, the Apple-led consortium have not only got the rights to license this technology to secure royalties but also gain market influence vis-a-vis Google in the multi-trillion-dollar technology field. As Google is involved in more than 45 patent lawsuits - the biggest against any major player - it is consolidating its patent bank to avoid future litigations.
