Google to pledge not to favour Motorola over rivals

Since August of 2011, the tech community has been buzzing with the big news that Google was to buy out Motorola Mobility. The estimated price it was going for was in the region of $12.5 billion. Google also stated that Motorola Mobility would still remain a separate entity doing what it did best, or what it thought it did best. But the big question on the community’s mind was obviously whether or not Google would decide to play favorites and give Motorola a larger consideration of Android related options.

Google recently announced though, that this would not be the case. According to a report - Google will pledge to license on fair and reasonable terms the patents it acquires post its Motorola Mobility buyout, said a person familiar with the matter, in a bid to allay regulatory and users' concerns. A letter to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), which is an NGO that produces standards for telephony and Internet technologies on a global level, will be sent by the company to assure their “clients” of this. Other global bodies will also receive the same letter.

A fair share of the Droid, for all partners is on the cards

A Google spokesman is also reported to have stated, "Since we announced our agreement to acquire Motorola Mobility last August, we've heard questions about whether Motorola Mobility's standard-essential patents will continue to be licensed on FRAND (fair and reasonable) terms, once we've closed this transaction. The answer is simple: they will."

Google’s ideal is that business will continue as usual with no deviations from the current norm of conduct. Head honcho, Eric Schmidt, made it quite clear that Motorola will not be favored over others after the ink has dried on the final paperwork. The European Commission, which acts as competition regulator in the European Union, is reviewing the deal and is scheduled to decide by February 13 whether to clear it, or otherwise. The deal will also be reviewed thoroughly by other U.S. antitrust regulators.

MOTO’s rivals like HTC, Samsung, Sony Ericsson should be able to breathe a sigh of relief as Google’s assurance could in no way disrupt the current work flow, so to speak.

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