The SF Gate—the online home of the San Francisco Chronicle—interviewed Tim Porter, Google’s patent counsel, on his perspective of the current patent system. Written in Q&A style, the article tackles topics including the patent system, Android, Apple, Microsoft and whether he thinks software patents make sense.

The article really focuses on Microsoft more than any other competitor. When pressed about Microsoft’s recent tactic to pressure Android partners into signing lucrative license agreements, Tim responded:

Unfortunately, the way it works is you don’t know what patents cover until courts declare that in litigation. What that means is people have to make decisions about whether to fight or whether to reach agreements.

This is a tactic that Microsoft has used in the past, with Linux, for example. When their products stop succeeding in the marketplace, when they get marginalized, as is happening now with Android, they use the large patent portfolio they’ve built up to get revenue from the success of other companies’ products.

It’s an interesting read on what Google’s legal team is currently facing, and their perspective on today’s patent system.

While attempting to convince the U.S. Senate antitrust committee that Google is not a monopoly, Google chairman Eric Schmidt stated that Apple’s Siri could pose a serious threat to the company’s core business. From AppleInsider:

Eric Schmidt, Google’s chairman and former chief executive, admitted to the U.S. Senate antitrust subcommittee that Apple’s new Siri personal assistant technology is a “significant development” in search and could pose a threat to his company’s core business.

This should come as no surprise. The U.S. government is investigating whether Google classifies as a monopoly, so it makes sense for Google to defend itself with whatever they have available. As it stands, Siri is only available on a single device, so Google citing the fledgling technology comes across as an act of desperation to get the government off their back.

If Apple decides to implement Siri on more devices, and continues to pull results from non-Google sources like Yelp and Wolfram|Alpha, then Google may have a valid reason to be concerned. Considering that 2/3 of all mobile searches on Google come from iOS devices, having Siri pull the results from alternative sources could hit Google hard.

Last week, I wrote an article—”Siri Exclusivity Helps Sell iPhone 4S“—where I posit that Siri may have been offered exclusively for the iPhone 4S to help Apple test their infrastructure with lower user demand:

It may also be possible that Apple plans to roll out Siri to the iPhone 4 at a later date. For the initial rollout, Apple may have labelled Siri “Beta” and restricted its user base size solely to ensure their infrastructure could handle the demand. Once Apple establishes confidence in the service, they may very well open up Siri for the iPhone 4 and move it from beta to gold master.

This was just a guess, but the recent Siri outages and instability definitely support the “Beta” tag Apple applied to the new feature. We know that the iPhone 4 and iPod Touch 4th generation iOS devices can support Siri from a hardware perspective, and with the proper hacks, can also communicate with Apple’s servers. So the assumption that Siri requires the iPhone 4S hardware doesn’t hold water.

According to a rumor posted at Jailbreak Nation, Apple may be testing Siri on the iPhone 4:

Today, we have a very interesting bit of news, tipped to us by a source close to Apple. According to them, Apple is testing Siri on devices other than the iPhone 4S. The device specifically mentioned to us was the iPhone 4, but we can most likely assume that other devices are being tested as well. This means that we will potentially see a software update that allows Siri to run on older devices. Currently, it only runs on the iPhone 4S, but Apple has given employees access to a special software version that incorporates Siri’s features on to older devices. […]

At this point, we can only assume that Apple testing Siri on the iPhone 4 is a rumor, but it could be true. My only question is what will Apple use to differentiate the iPhone 4S from the iPhone 4 if Siri is made available for both devices in the future? Apple doesn’t market specs—they market experiences—and Siri is anything but a spec.

Although many like to focus on Apple’s product design excellence, another weapon in their arsenal is complete control over their supply chain. This allows them to sell devices like the iPad at very competitive prices while still earning significant margins. From Businessweek:

According to more than a dozen interviews with former employees, executives at suppliers, and management experts familiar with the company’s operations, Apple has built a closed ecosystem where it exerts control over nearly every piece of the supply chain, from design to retail store. Because of its volume—and its occasional ruthlessness—Apple gets big discounts on parts, manufacturing capacity, and air freight. “Operations expertise is as big an asset for Apple as product innovation or marketing,” says Mike Fawkes, the former supply-chain chief at Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and now a venture capitalist with VantagePoint Capital Partners. “They’ve taken operational excellence to a level never seen before.”

By investing up-front—purchasing future components and services—Apple is able to not only ensure they will not run out of stock, but stifle competitors who now cannot secure required materials and services.

I have written about Samsung’s use of RAND (or FRAND) patents against Apple, describing it “like fighting a forest fire with a water pistol.” Whereas Apple is waging its legal wrath against Samsung on the basis of copying its products, Samsung volleyed with its own suit alleging Apple infringed on their 3G patents. Unfortunate for Samsung, their patents are part of the 3G standard and fall under the FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) requirement.

The European Union’s top antitrust authority has now launched their investigation into Samsung’s use of 3G patents against Apple. From Computerworld:

Samsung has sued Apple in five E.U. countries alleging infringement of its patents on 3G mobile technology. The European Commission will now consider whether the South Korean company is abusing the principle of fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing in these cases.

I wouldn’t be surprised to find Apple benefiting from this investigation, and Samsung coming out with a skinned knee.