Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt says he is unconcerned about various patent infringement lawsuits targeting a number of Android handsets.
“We have seen an explosion of Android devices entering the market,” Schmidt said.
”Because of our successes, competitors are responding with lawsuits as they cannot respond through innovations. I’m not too worried about this.”
Schmidt reportedly made his comments during a speech at the Google Mobile Revolution conference in Tokyo, Japan.
The former CEO also emphasized Google would “make sure” HTC didn’t lose its ongoing patent infringement suit with Apple and jokingly described such disputes as “legal fun.”
However, as AppleInsider’s Katie Marsal notes, an Apple legal victory could allow Cupertino to “carve out a piece” of the lucrative Android pie, as it would likely set a high royalty precedent – effectively paving the way for Apple to collect revenue from larger Android device manufacturers such as Motorola and Samsung.
“Even smaller vendors are said to be concerned over legal threats to Android,” Marsal explained.
“One report suggests that some Chinese device makers like Huawei and ZTE could [eventually] shift toward Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 platform and away from Android.”
