Widening Scrutiny of Google’s Smartphone Patents

For more than a year, the Federal Trade Commission has been conducting a broad antitrust investigation into the way Google runs its Internet search and search advertising businesses. But in recent months it has added another investigation into Google’s competitive behavior. This time, the focus is on phones — specifically, on patents that apply to lucrative smartphone technology, and the conduct of Google’s Motorola Mobility subsidiary.

The FTC issued subpoenas in June seeking information from Google and smartphone rivals including Apple and Microsoft, and it questioned representatives of the companies as recently as a few weeks ago, said people briefed on the investigation. Google owns patents covering communications and data-handling technologies that are crucial for the basic operation of smartphones and tablets — what are known as standard-essential patents. The investigators are scrutinizing the company’s policies for licensing these patents and suing other companies that it claims are infringing on them, said these people, who spoke on the condition that they not be identified. Google’s Motorola unit pledged to technology standards organizations that it would license the patents to others on “fair and reasonable” terms to stimulate the growth of the industry, benefiting all companies.