At an Aspen conference in Mountain View, Calif., Pablo Chavez, Google’s public policy director, referred to the patent wars, saying that they are not helpful to the marketplace or to innovation. He further said that patent wars are not helpful to the consumers at all. However, there are many who see this statement as a reaction to the social search giant’s ongoing legal battles with Oracle, which Google won at trial, and Apple, which is still pending. Software patents are getting too controversial in technology circles, where most of the companies are taking its rivals to courts for infringing each other patents. This statement given by Googlers implies that the company plans to go anti-patents for a while. Google seems to hate the whole workings of patents, and sees the whole act of patent law as against progression. Chavez believes that the patent life 20 years should be cut shortened. The social search giant also supports strong financial penalties for lawsuit-losing patent trolls and also against the patenting of abstract concepts that are only patented because they are implemented online. Currently, Google is busy trying to change patent laws. The firm has filled amicus briefs, it advocates for reforms, and has also teamed up with other anti-patent players in the technology sector. Google’s case with Oracle involved technologies core to the open-source Android operating system. However, Android patent lawsuits still abound, from the epic Samsung-Apple suits over hardware design to suits, which involves Android manufacturer Motorola Mobility, now owned by Google. However, it was just last Friday, when Motorola and Google filed their own patent suit against Apple, seeking a ban on all Apple devices in the US.
