This means many companies apply for patents just for the sake of having them ready for legal battles.
"It is a bit of an arms race," added Robertson. "What often happens is that large companies build patent portfolios to use for offensive purposes and also defensive purposes."
He added: "So what you get is one company threatening another with patent litigation and the company that is threatened might be able to fire back and say 'Well, if you are going to raise this issue, we will bring up this other patent that we have that we think your other technology might be infringing'."
"That might be enough of a deterrent to get the company to back down," he continued.
Although Robertson claimed many in the US were unhappy with the state of the patent system, but he couldn't see it changing in the near future.
"A lot of them don't like the way that it operates but they are locked into [the] arms race and it would be madness for a large technology company to turn its back on the way the system operates and to stop trying to patent everything in sight," he said
"You can't blame Apple [for example] for getting patents on gestures if the patent office will give them to it. You could perhaps blame Apple for using some of the patents in litigation but I can't criticise a company for building up a defensive patent portfolio. There is good sense in doing so."
Robertson concluded: "It's the way that game is played and unfortunately whilst things are the way they are, then it will continue to be an unpleasant game."
-
Why keeping track of AI assistants can be a tricky businessColumn Making the most of AI assistants means understanding what they can do – and what the workforce wants from them
-
Nvidia braces for a $5.5 billion hit as tariffs reach the semiconductor industryNews The chipmaker says its H20 chips need a special license as its share price plummets
-
Nokia hails success of Europe’s first commercial 5G cloud RAN deploymentNews Elise says its 5G cloud network puts it in a strong position during a move towards 6G
-
Kyndryl and Nokia extend partnership to drive data center networking gainsNews The companies plan to offer more data center networking options aimed at enterprise customers
-
Dell and Nokia expand strategic partnership to drive network cloud transformationNews The companies will leverage each other’s expertise and distribution to scale telecom networks and private 5G use cases
-
Nokia and Google score breakthrough in Android 13 network slicingNews Nokia's solution will allow devices to connect to multiple network slices simultaneously, provided by existing 4G and 5G operators
-
Nokia wins Indosat contract to expand 5G across IndonesiaNews The deal will bring next-gen communication technology to customers across a 1.4 million square kilometre area
-
Nokia and Ligado partner on 4G, 5G enterprise private networkNews Nokia will leverage Ligado’s Band 24 spectrum to reach the US enterprise market
-
The IT Pro Products of the Year 2021: The year’s best hardware and softwareBest Our pick of the best products from the past 12 months
-
Nokia T20 review: A simple, sturdy Android tablet at an SMB-friendly priceReviews It’s not as luxurious as an iPad, but the T20 makes a fine, functional tablet for business
