Google cries foul as Microsoft, Apple gang up

Google Inc, fresh from losing a bid to buy thousands of patents from bankrupt Nortel, lashed out at its biggest rivals on Wednesday and accused them of banding together to block the Internet giant in the red-hot smartphone arena.

Google Inc, fresh from losing a bid to buy thousands of patents from bankrupt Nortel, lashed out at its biggest rivals on Wednesday and accused them of banding together to block the Internet giant in the red-hot smartphone arena.

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In a rare public outburst, Google chief legal officer David Drummond blasted Microsoft, Apple, Oracle and “other companies” for colluding to hamper the increasingly popular Android mobile software by buying up patents, effectively imposing a “tax” on Android cellphones.

Apart from increasing costs for consumers, snapping up the patents will stifle technological innovation, he said.

“Microsoft and Apple have always been at each other’s throats, so when they get into bed together you have to start wondering what’s going on,” Drummond wrote in a blog post.

He referred to “a hostile, organised campaign against Android by Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and other companies, waged through bogus patents.”

Apple, Microsoft and Oracle declined to comment.