Google is now trying to bolster its weak position in the smartphone industry's patent wars by bidding $900 million US dollars for a stack of patents put up for sale by Nortel, the bankrupt Canadian communications equipment maker.
The bid comes as Google, along with the handset makers and others that use its Android OS, find themselves embroiled in lawsuits over the software.
Software industry experts suggest bulking up on the patent holdings will give Google a stronger defence.
The Nortel intellectual property covers around 6-thousand patents and patent applications in a range of communications technologies.
These span optical networking, voice and semiconductors as well as the wireless and data networking areas which are closer to Google's core business.
