I think Google thought that the software patent issue was going to go the other way, where some sort of unwritten agreement of "Let's not screw this up for ever

I think Google thought that the software patent issue was going to go the other way, where some sort of unwritten agreement of "Let's not screw this up for everyone" would be reached. So the idea of paying $4B just for patents wasn't something that would have been done. AFAICT Google had a slim patent portfolio because Google didn't think software patents were the right thing to do, either ethically or from a business perspective. Nokia [1] pressed the button on the mutually assured destruction after the sale of Sun to Oracle. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone_patent_wars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone_patent_wars Disclaimer: My opinions, not necessarily my employers. I wasn't with the company at the time.