US to Clear Google's Deal

The Justice Department is poised to clear Google's $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility as early as next week, according to people familiar with the matter, giving Google a powerful armory of technology patents to deploy in the smartphone wars. However, antitrust enforcers in the US and Europe remain concerned about Google's commitment to license Motorola patents to competitors on fair terms, those people said, and will closely monitor Google's use of the patents. The European Commission has set a Feb 13 deadline to decide whether to approve the acquisition.

The Justice Department also is set to clear a second tech-patent deal that has raised antitrust concerns in the smartphone industry. It will allow a consortium of tech companies including Apple, Microsoft and Research In Motion to acquire a trove of patents from bankrupt Canadian telecom-equipment maker Nortel Networks for $4.5 billion, people familiar with the matter said. Investigators had been looking at whether those tech companies were planning to use the patents to unfairly hobble competing smartphones using Google's Android software.