EU seeks more details on Google-Motorola deal

The European Commission (EC) suspended its review of Google's proposed $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility has been frozen following a request from EC for new information.

The deal, which was expected to have been approved by the EC early next month, has been placed on hold with an EC spokesperson saying to Mobile Today that the organisation needs certain documents from Google "that are essential to its evaluation of the transaction."

"Once the EC receives the relevant information, it will continue its evaluation process," said the spokesperson, who refused to give a timeline on when a ruling on the acquisition would be made.

According to the Financial Times, albeit that the EC is still gathering details from companies that are opposed to the deal, Google has dismissed the request for more information as "routine" and that it was "confident the commission will conclude that this acquisition is good for competition."

What might be worrying EC officials are comments made by Google CEO Larry Page when the Motorola Mobility deal was first announced. Page said that the merger would "supercharge" Android and help Google extend into sectors other than smartphones. other analysts continue to fear that Google could favor Motorola over other Android vendors, though Google executives, including Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, have said that will not be the case.

Also of note, as reported by the Daily Telegraph, the acquisition would provide Google with access to Motorola's 17,000 patents and 7,500 pending patents, which Google hopes will give Android licencees legal cover in patent disputes.

For more:
- see this Mobile Today article
- see this Financial Times article
- see this Daily Telegraph article

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