Nokia smacks Google for 'patent troll' charges

Nokia has hit back at Google after the search giant charged Microsoft and Nokia with collusion and using patent trolls to discourage device makers from using Android.

"Though we have not yet seen the complaint, Google's suggestion that Nokia and Microsoft are colluding on intellectual property rights is wrong," Nokia spokesman Mark Durrant told Reuters today. "Both companies have their own intellectual property rights portfolios and strategies and operate independently."

Google filed a complaint yesterday with the European Commission, claiming Microsoft and Nokia are working together to fund patent trolls -- organizations that provide no product or service, and thrive on patent licensing and lawsuits -- to hurt both Android and competition in the marketplace.

"Nokia and Microsoft are colluding to raise the costs of mobile devices for consumers, creating patent trolls that side-step promises both companies have made," the search company said yesterday in a statement. "They should be held accountable, and we hope our complaint spurs others to look into these practices."

At the center of Google's issues with Nokia and Microsoft may be Canadian patent firm Mosaid. That company, which focuses solely on patent licensing and at times, lawsuits, last year acquired 2,000 wireless patents and patent applications from Nokia. As part of the deal, the company agreed to share revenue from the patents with Nokia and Microsoft.

Microsoft wasted no time firing back at Google yesterday, saying in a statement that the search company's complaint "seems like a desperate tactic on [Google's] part."

"Google is complaining about patents when it won't respond to growing concerns by regulators, elected officials and judges about its abuse of standard-essential patents, and it is complaining about antitrust in the smartphone industry when it controls more than 95 percent of mobile search and advertising," Microsoft said.