Andre Yoskowitz
13 Feb 2012 20:24
Within a few hours, the European Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice have approved Google's purchase of Motorola Mobility.
The company now just needs approval from China, Taiwan, and Israel before the acquisition is completely official.
In August, Google shocked the tech world by announcing it was acquiring the company for $12.5 billion, mainly in an effort to protect its Android platform. Motorola had over 17,000 valuable patents, which Google will use in defense of its smartphone platform.
Despite being cleared, regulators in the U.S. and Europe will continue to monitor the situation to see if Google will license Motorola patents to competitors on fair terms (FRAND/Fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory) as they have been ordered to.
Motorola Mobility will run separately from Google, and the company will continue to license Android to all current and future manufacturers.