The patent war between Apple and supporters of Google Android operating system is fierce these days. The results of this patent war is that both software and hardware developers patent almost everything about their innovations, even the most basic technologies. The result of such approach will be simple: new companies will not be able to release any kind of breakthrough product due to lack of patent portfolio, according to the chairman of Google.

“[Patent litigation] will continue for a while. Google is doing fine. Apple is doing fine. Let me tell you [who is] the loser here. There is a young [Android co-founder] Andy Rubin trying to form a new version of Danger [the smartphone company Mr. Rubin co-founded before Android]. How is he or she going to be able to get the patent coverage necessary to offer version one of their product? That is the real consequence of this,” said Eric Schmidt, the chairman of Google, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

Many technological breakthroughs in the recent years came from young developer teams. Loads of those breakthroughs, including Android operating system or Siri speech recognition technology were later acquired by larger companies, such as Google or Apple. But with extreme patent coverage that is owned by Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung and others, one day it may not be possible to innovate without infringing one of those patents.

Considering the fact that Apple has not yet legally attacked Google itself, it is unlikely that the companies will reach a cross-licensing agreement anytime soon. Therefore, both will continue to patent even basic technologies in order to be able to protect themselves by counter-suing in case of litigation. It is noteworthy that even the chairman of Google is surprised that the company has not been attacked by Apple yet.

“Apple and Google are well aware of the legal strategies of each other. Part of the conversations that are going on all the time is to talk about them. It is extremely curious that Apple has chosen to sue Google's partners and not Google itself,” said Mr. Schmidt.

Tags: Google, Android, Apple, iOS, Microsoft, Samsung