Google never applied for regulatory approval in China to acquire Motorola, according to reports.
In a speech delivered on Wednesday, Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Shen Danyang said Google had not yet submitted an application for an antitrust review, which is required before the acquisition can move forward in China.
According to Reuters, under Chinese business law, any company that makes more than 10 billion yuan ($1.55 billion) a year and 400 million yuan ($62 million) domestically needs government approval before it can be acquired.
When Google announced plans to acquire Motorola for $12.5 billion last week, it said the deal was "subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of regulatory approvals in the U.S., the European Union and other jurisdictions, and the approval of Motorola Mobility's stockholders."
Did Google really forget to submit an application in China? Highly doubtful. So does this mean the Motorola acquisition is irrelevant in that ginormous market across the Pacific? Google was unavailable to comment, but we can hazard a guess.
Remember how the Google's Motorola acquisition was more about buying Motorola's 17,000+ mobile software patents than anything else? Unlike in the U.S. and EU, where Android's future hinges on the outcome of numerous injunction threats and patent lawsuits brought upon by its rivals, China doesn't even patent most software.
According to patent attorney Scott Thorpe of Kunzier Needham Massey & Thorpe, "in China, software, algorithms or computer games are not per se patentable subject matter. Software inventions must solve a technical problem and have physical features. So like in Europe, your clever accounting or stock analysis algorithms are not patentable subject matter. However, software with physical features such as accelerating data interchange or storing data more efficiently solve a technical problem, and so are likely to be patentable subject matter."
To wit, Apple hasn't pursued an injunction on Samsung Galaxy devices in China, like it has the U.S., U.K., Australia, Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Italy, and South Korea.
For more, see Google Acquires Motorola Mobility: What You Need to Know as well as Google's Motorola Deal Closes a Door, Opens for Windows and Why Google is Buying Motorola Mobility.
Source:http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2391725,00.asp?kc=PCRSS05039TX1K0000762
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