GigaOM Pro

The European Union this morning granted unconditional approval for Google’s $12.5 billion takeover of Motorola Mobility, saying “the transaction does not itself raise competitive issues.” As patent guru Florian Mueller notes here, though, the EU also expressed serious concerns about the Motorola patents that are a key component of the deal, and reserves the right to investigate and perhaps penalize any action regarding those patents that it deems anti-competitive. Mueller rightly regards that as a kind of shot across the bow of Google, which may be planning to use its new acquisition as a lethal new weapon in the patent courts. Google’s lawyers should be very careful pursuing that strategy in Europe, because the EU is already signalling its willingness to get involved in any such case.