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Google to Fight All Patent Lawsuits

Search firm worries it's seen as easy target for settlements

By Nick McMaster, Newser Staff

Posted Feb 18, 2009 4:11 PM CST

(Newser) – Google is pursuing a more aggressive litigation strategy in an attempt to curb the number of patent lawsuits filed against it, Bloomberg reports. The company originally tended to settle lawsuits, getting rid of them quickly. But management is worried that doling out settlements has made it look like an easy target: Google was hit with 14 patent challenges last year—and didn't settle any.

That was up from 11 suits in 2007 and three in 2006. Google decided to fight all challenges from 2007 and 2008. “It’s our hope this will serve as a deterrent,” said the firm’s litigation counsel. The strategy comes with its own risks, because verdicts can yield costs far in excess of settlements. But Google seems to be making it work: It has won five cases so far.

[Images (3)]

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Google workers staff a booth in San Francisco, Sept. 9, 2008. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Sergey Brin, co-founder and president of Google, smiles at the annual Allen and Co.'s media conference in this July 12, 2007 file photo, in Sun Valley, Idaho. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac, file)

Google has decided to take a more aggressive approach to patent lawsuits. (Shutterstock)

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If you’re going to take a hard-line approach, you’d better back it up with victories.
- Alan Fisch, a patent lawyer at Kaye Scholer LLP

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Google to Fight All Patent Lawsuits