It was Google’s decision to get into the phone business with launch of the Android operating system that led to Apple’s extremely aggressive courtroom maneuverings, but Cupertino has yet to drag Google into the courtroom. Apparently, all of that is about to change.
It was always about Apple vs. Google, and the one-time friends (and now fast frenimies) are soon to be directly involved in the same case. As the plot thickens, can you hear that dun-dun sound in the background?
According to Bloomberg, Apple gets to go behind the curtain of the Android operating system, and Motorola must lead the way. On March 2, as part of a lawsuit originally filed in 2010 by Apple in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois (Chicago) against Motorola, Apple attorneys requested detailed information about the development the Android operating system as well as information regarding Google’s pending $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola.
Motorola had fought the request, arguing that Google is not a party in the lawsuit. Not buying into the claim of Google as an innocent third party, yesterday Judge Richard A. Posner ruled in favor of Apple’s discovery request, stating that "Motorola shall be expected to obtain full and immediate compliance by Google with Apple’s liability discovery demands."
FIGHT!
"The Android/Motorola acquisition discovery is highly relevant to Apple’s claims and defenses," Apple’s attorneys’ claimed in what may be the biggest courtroom understatement of the year. Surely Google does not want to reveal this information, and the software giant has worked hard to remain in the shadows amidst much of Apple's recent courtroom drama. Regardless of which handset manufacturer Apple sues in court, the elephant in the room is the one thing all the other phones have in common: Google's Android operating system.
In a now famous rant, the late Steve Jobs said, "I'm going to destroy Android, because it's a stolen product. I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this." In case he was not being clear, Jobs also added, "I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong." Apple’s recent and relentless barrage of lawsuits has always been about Android, and now Google is being brought onto the playing field.
(Image Credit: Nino Jose Heredia/©Gulf News)
Adrian writes the weekly Law & Apple column for MacLife.com. Follow him on Twitter, or subscribe to him on Facebook.
