Google Given Go-Ahead For Motorola Deal

US and European regulators have approved Google's purchase of handset maker Motorola Mobility amid increasingly heated legal battles over the technology behind smartphone devices.Google, whose Android software is the leading operating system for internet-enabled smartphones, said in August it would buy the company for its 17,000 patents and 7,500 patent applications. "The combination of Google and Motorola Mobility will help supercharge Android," Google said. Google has accused rivals Apple, Oracle and Microsoft of trying to take down Android through patent litigation. While the search engine is being sued by Oracle for alleged patent infringement in connection with its Java software platform. The regulators warned they would watch the internet search company to ensure patents critical to the telecommunications industry would be licensed at fair prices. EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said: "This merger decision should not and will not mean that we are not concerned by the possibility that, once Google is the owner of this portfolio, Google can abuse these patents, linking some patents with its Android devices. This is our worry." "This is not enough to block the merger, but we will be vigilant." Companies that hold these patents must license them to peers on a fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory basis, known as "Frand." This means patents cannot be used to stop rivals from putting a product on the market or stop companies from charging extraordinarily high royalty payments to prevent rivals from using the technology. Approval from China, Taiwan and Israel is needed before the deal, which will also allow Google to develop its own range of smartphones, can be completed. Last month, EU regulators launched an investigationinto the use of patents by electronics manufacturer Samsung in its battles with Apple. Also on Monday, the US justice department approved an Apple Inc-led consortium's purchase of patents from the bankrupt Canadian company Nortel Networks and signed off on Apple's purchase of patents formerly owned by Novell Inc.