Oh So Innovative

David Drummond, of Google (via Daring Fireball):

Patents were meant to encourage innovation, but lately they are being used as a weapon to stop it.

Eric Schmidt, of Google:

…competitors are responding with lawsuits as they cannot respond through innovations…

I won’t disagree that patents are stifling innovation. Google sure is going to great lengths, though, to say that the iPhone isn’t an innovative device. Coming from a company that made a free and inferior knockoff of iOS ¹, these are quite the statements.

Microsoft’s latest response (also via DF):

Google says we bought Novell patents to keep them from Google. Really? We asked them to bid jointly with us. They said no.

That sounds like Google was in this more to keep Microsoft from getting them than for any other reason. If they were in a joint deal, Microsoft could still charge for Android couldn’t it?

Here’s the response I really want to hear from Microsoft, though:

Google accusing us of not innovating? Compare WP7 to iOS and Android to iOS and you can see for yourself who’s been out-innovating who.