These accusations are almost like patent bids. Google strikes first but Microsoft wins.
Also, Google made the first move with this type of grievance. They have the luxury of setting the tone and ensuring that all other parties only have a chance to defend themselves rather than achieve anything greater than when this all started.
Remember when there was talk about Obama modifying the terms of underwater mortgage holders, but it was illegal? My non-lawyer opinion is that's what we'll see with patents -- future software patents may become difficult to obtain, but existing ones will have to be litigated individually.
Google wants to be secure by buying up patents and over turn the Nortel patent sale. They are just whining that they don't have a toy too.
Nobody is talking about overthrowing the patent system except for maybe people on HN. Google very seriously wants to be a player in this and have a patent portfolio. Read their blog post's last paragraph.
> Nobody is talking about overthrowing the patent system except for maybe people on HN
Everyone I know /patent lawyers included/ has said that the system is broken.
It's a cold war; everyone's got to have nukes, just in case the other guy uses them. Then some upstart like PRNK, ahem I mean /Lodsys/, comes along, lobs one into someone's applecart, and suddenly ICBMs are flying everywhere.
What we have here, gentlemen, is a mind shaft gap.
"We’re also looking at other ways to reduce the anti-competitive threats against Android by strengthening our own patent portfolio."
I think you misunderstood the last paragraph. They want to challenge competition by innovation not by a patent war. Google's patent portfolio is there to protect them against unfair competition.
"Patents were meant to encourage innovation, but lately they are being used as a weapon to stop it."
In tech, innovation and copying are two sides of the same coin. It's really hard to build something better than what's on the market if you're not allowed to start from what's already there.
Also, Google made the first move with this type of grievance. They have the luxury of setting the tone and ensuring that all other parties only have a chance to defend themselves rather than achieve anything greater than when this all started.