ALSO, Google can now license the hardware patents for free or nearly free by the truckload to Samsung, HTC, LG, etc so they can all push back on Apple.

could u guys clear me up, why google gets sued by MS and Apple?

Because these days pretty much every algorithm is patented and in most cases there isn't 100 different ways to perform efficiently something either in hardware or software so whether on purpose or not, when you develop something in the mobile space you end up doing something similar to what someone else has already done and, even if you didn't read their patent, the fact that you do what is described in their patents is called infringements and you can get sued for it...

The main issue is that for the last 20 years patents have gone out of control and companies can now patent very basic stuff that isn't that special in my view...

google has a leg up now? srry sell phones arin't my area, but i would think this puts google on stable footing the phone market.

Google essentially built Android out of various different operating systems, mostly Linix which suprisingly hasn't filed a lawsuit...but there is some Sun Microsystems Java in there, some Microsoft owned file system structure and naming conventions, and some Apple hardware stuff by the looks of things.

Oracle, Apple and Microsoft are finding elements in the android OS which they believe belong to their pattents, and since Google is giving Android for free and making no money on it, they are unable to sue Google directly. They are however able to sue the manufacturers using Android as they are charging money for a product...

By aquiring motorolla, Apple lawsuits should be covered as they tend to sue for functionality and hardware...but I am really uncertain how aquiring motorolla helps with Microsoft and Oracle lawsuits. Microsoft is suing Motorolla as we speak for using Android, despite their boatload of patents as none of them are for the smartphone OS.

I don't see how anything changed for google in terms of phone sales. Motorolla was selling only Android smartphones before today. As of today they will only sell Android phones... So 12.5 billion gained Google 0% marketshare essentially. It will however ensure that Android will have some ammo to fight back lawsuits which happen on a daily basis these days.

Apple just blocked Samsung Galaxy tab from being sold in Europe. Perhaps this can help Samsung...

I hope that means my phone will get updated faster since I have an Atrix 4G, loving the gingerbread but could always use faster updates!

ok the first 10 words i said was i know nothing about sellphones, and even with wht you just said i still know nothing bout the sellphone market.

I assume you mean Linux? Linux can't sue because firstly Linux isn't made by a single company but rather by a large array of developers all over the world. Everybody can create, modify or update his own Linux distribution. And secondly Linux is open and available for everybody to use.