Some of the Google patents sold to HTC in its defense against Apple may not hold up in court thanks to some missing paperwork.
That's according to Tyron Stading, founder and chief technology officer of Innography, a software company that pores through data related to intellectual property. His company's analysis found that Google may not have had the right to sell two of the nine patents.
At issue were missing signatures from the original inventors of patents bought from Palm and Motorola. In both cases, inventors didn't assign the technology to the company, meaning they weren't in the position to sell the patents. Stading said that in past instances where this has happened, the court will throw out a case if the plaintiff doesn't prove proper ownership of the patents.
"This could have been avoided had they done the proper due diligence," Stading said. "This causes a huge issue for strategic defense."
Representatives for HTC and Google weren't immediately available for comment.
Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-20105729-94/some-of-htcs-google-patents-may-be-worthless/#ixzz1XsCPBZkr
