Now that Google has gotten permission from China's Anti-Monopoly Bureau to acquire Motorola Mobility, the companies are expected to complete their merger by the middle of this week.

Apple, Microsoft and a handful of other tech companies are now free to license $US4.5 billion in patents they bought at auction last year from bankrupt Nortel, which could open up a can of worms for companies using technology covered by the patents.

On Sept. 16 President Obama signed the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (the "America Invents Act") into law, ushering in the most significant changes to the U.S. patent system in decades.

The success of Samsung's Galaxy S Android phones just became a cash cow for Microsoft, thanks to a patent cross-licensing agreement in which Microsoft gets paid for every Android phone or tablet Samsung sells.

While I was in Japan touring Toughbook facilities, one of the more interesting discussions I had with one of the Japanese execs was in regards to patents.

South Korea's Samsung Electronics says it has filed a complaint in France against its US rival Apple for infringement of three technology patents.

Microsoft has reached a patent licence agreement with Acer, Taiwan's leading computer maker, that will cover tablet computers and smartphones powered by Google's Android platform.

Google's top lawyer has accused Apple, Oracle, Microsoft and other companies of using "bogus patents" to wage a campaign against the internet giant's Android mobile platform.

Microsoft may be on its way to earning a percentage of every Android handset sold, something even Google hasn't accomplished.

Apple has announced it is suing Taiwanese maker of smartphones HTC for infringing on 20 patents.