Not really. Google needs these patents to protect themselves from suits by MS and Apple, how could they make a cross-licensing deal if they co-owned these patents with the very companies they are trying to protect themselves against?
Two points:
1) Apple has never sued google, to my knowledge, and there are no active lawsuits currently. I'm not aware of any suits from Microsoft either.
2) IF Apple were to sue google, it would be over Patents resulting from Apple developed technology, not patents Apple bought defensively.
I'm unaware of any case of Apple suing a company for violating a patent that Apple bought. However, Apple does sue companies for violating patents on Apple's inventions. Apple is not a patent troll, they are simply protecting their inventions.
If Google had chosen to enter the bidding, the terms of the agreement could easily have included a cross-licensing deal, as these are how these things are often done.
In fact, entering the bidding with these companies would have been the cheapest and most effective way to neutralize any claim they might have had on Google over these patents.
If Google had entered the group they would have gotten a license on them (why else would google contribute to the bid?) and the cost of that would have been less than bidding for the whole thing by itself, by definition.
I think google wanted the whole thing for itself, in the case of Nortel, and lost, and is now crying foul because it didn't get its way in an auction it didn't take very seriously in the first place.
Apple is not a patent troll, they are simply protecting their inventions.
Apple's patents, like many software patents, tend to involve obvious techniques and algorithms that have been carefully obfuscated by patent lawyers.
Using such patents offensively is not so much about protecting Apple's innovations; it's more about preventing competition. This is beneficial for Apple, but bad for consumers and the overall health of the market.
Why is this being downvoted? I assume that this is a question that many might have, if they're not familiar with the complete details. It's certainly discussion-worthy and thus shouldn't be downvoted.
Belated response: I didn't mean the MS execs are necessarily right; I just meant that their tweets are very well done -- getting the message across very pithily.
