Aha! Google bought some IBM patents.

Google had quietly purchased 1,030 patents from IBM two weeks ago.  According to the original story, some of the patents cover "A number of the patents also cover relational databases, object oriented programming, and a wide array of business processes."

If you were keeping score, Google just bought MORE patents than it currently has produced on its own (728 as of today).

It's no wonder why Google was so coy about its strategy after dropping out of the bidding in the Nortel patents, and why Chairman Eric Schmidt was adamant that Google would stand behind its Android partners, though lacking specifics.  As if it were at a candy store, Google got to pick a handful of strategically targeted patents from one of the biggest patent owners (some 64,000+ patents), for use against its rivals and their lawsuits.  I'm sure we'll find out more about the whole package of patents purchased; in the meantime you can click on over to the SEO By the Sea blog for a short list of patents -- XML and data mining anyone?

via WSJ, originally from SEO By the Sea blog