An important aspect of this conflict:
Google was invited to join the consortium and declined, electing to go it alone. Essentially they recognized that joining the consortium would only maintain their status quo patent disadvantage, and they wanted something that could shift the balance of power in their favour. They wanted patents they could sue MS, Apple, et al with.
Google gambled, bid as high as $4.4 billion, and lost. Now they have to pay the dealer when they could have licensed these patents for a fraction of the cost if they had just been willing to be a team player.
"The worst part about these reviews is they are [subjective]--and their scores often depend on how drunk you got the media at a Street Fighter event." — Mona Hamilton, Capcom Senior VP of Marketing
*Image indefinitely borrowed from BrainBoxLtd without his consent.
