$5.5bn - but what are they actually worth?
So far all we've seen from motorola in the patent war is a few average patents, and some extremely strong but unfortunately FRAND encumbered patents. Worth $5.5bn? Very doubtful!
They've not really dealt either MS or apple any really crippling blows with their non-FRAND patents. Going the other way, MS have got a sales ban on various motorola products, and apple are making serious progress.
They did manage to get a ban on some of apple's 3G devices in germany, very briefly. That was based on a FRAND patent though, and germany is the only place in the world which has so far considered a product ban from a FRAND patent. That event caught the EU's interest, and moto are now being investigated. They're also being investigated over FRAND abuse in the US.
So: a bunch of weak patents, and a bunch of "strong" but FRAND-encumbered patents that have relatively little actual value. And a couple of anti-trust cases. And $5.5bn.
What a fuck up!