Microsoft-Apple led consortium withdraws offer to buy Novell patents,now what?
Oh what a tangled web we weave when we seek to deceive. Well now it appears that that the axis of evil who was seeking to buy the Novell patent portfolio for a cool $450m has imploded and will not be buying them after all. Why? Beats me. The best guess I can make is that the outcry that was starting to be heard around this deal might have scared them off. For now it appears that Microsoft while they say they still intend to buy the patents and that “this is a purely procedural step necessary to provide time to allow for review of the proposed transaction”, are reevaluating.
I say I think the entities involved in the purchase are reevaluating whether their purchase of these patents will indeed allow them to wield the hammers they hoped they were buying for nearly a half a billion dollars. If the EU or other political entities are going to give this deal too much scrutiny it may hinder the use of these patents as an offensive weapon in the near future. If not who needs to lay out that kind of money?
So what will happen to the patent portfolio? Well open source advocates can hope for a white knight to charge in and rescue the day. Who could that white knight be? Well who has 450m laying around and could be hurt if Microsoft, Apple, Oracle and EMC go though with this deal? Easy, Google. Google spends 450m on companies with no revenue all the time. Buying this portfolio as a defensive measure may be some of the best money they ever spend.
Google could then get a double bang for their buck by donating these patents to the community for the protection of everyone. That could be the best outcome we could hope for here.
Of course Microsoft, et al can still go and buy the patents. That should set up for an interesting situation. Generally the EU and other European entities take a much tougher view on anti-trust and corporate heavy handedness than we do here in the states. There could be a real battle over the pond on whether the authorities would allow this deal. Even if they do, my money says that they would attach strings to the deal that may make it unpalatable for the axis to want to go ahead.
In the meantime I guess we wait for the next shoe to drop.
