With eye on Apple Google buys IBM patents

San Francisco - Google has bought over 1,000 patents from IBM in a move designed to bolster its armoury for a crunching patent war with Apple.

The purchase was widely reported in the US technology press on Thursday after it was discovered by search news site SEO by the Sea in a filing with the US Patent and Trademark Office.

The transaction reportedly took place in August at about the same time as Google and Motorola Mobility agreed on a 12-billion-dollar deal for the cellphone pioneer. which Google said was largely motivated by Motorola's trove of over 24,000 patents.

"Our acquisition of Motorola will increase competition by strengthening Google's patent portfolio, which will enable us to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies," CEO Larry Page said at the time.

Google and its hardware partners are locked in an increasingly bitter patent war with Apple, Microsoft and others over its open source Android operating system, which is the world's best selling smartphone OS.

Android handset makers HTC Corp, Samsung Electronics Co. and Motorola Mobility have all been targeted in lawsuits by Apple, while Microsoft and Motorola Mobility have exchanged patent-infringement allegations.//DPA