Google wins Motorola Mobility deal approval Google has won approval from Brussels for the $12.5bn purchase of Motorola Mobility. However, the European Commission warned the search group and its technology rivals on Monday about their use of patent arsenals to stymie competition. The takeover of the US smartphone maker, announced last August, had partly hinged on regulators" concerns about how Google would use Motorola's 17,000-strong patent portfolio. The green light will give Google the means to compete head-to-head with Apple in the lucrative smartphone market. Google owns the popular Android operating system, but has so far not manufactured its own devices, preferring to make its software available to third parties - an arrangement that is not expected to change with its Motorola purchase. "This is an important milestone in the approval process and it moves us closer to closing the deal," Google said on Monday. We are now just waiting for decisions from a few other jurisdictions before we can close this transaction. The wave of patent infringement lawsuits troubling the technology sector had raised questions over whether antitrust regulators in the US and Europe would seek concessions from Google and Motorola to approve the tie-up. Groups such as Apple and Samsung have repeatedly applied for injunctions against their rivals" products on the grounds that the gadgets rely on their intellectual property. The "patent wars" have resulted in products being taken off shelves while national courts reach a ruling. The Commission, acting as the European Union antitrust watchdog, has raised concerns such actions could be construed as anticompetitive, and wants essential patents used in industry standards to be available to all players on fair and reasonable terms. In an unusual move to assuage regulators, Google last week publicly reiterated Motorola's existing commitments to license its technology on fair terms. It had previously indicated it intended to continue to make Android available to rival smartphone manufacturers. The patent concession was enough for Brussels to clear the deal, with the caveat it would "continue to keep a close eye on the behaviour of all market players in the sector, particularly the increasingly strategic use of patents," said Joaquín Almunia, the competition commissioner. Mr Almunia said the transfer of Motorola patents to Google in itself did not kick up any competition issues, leaving him with few legal tools to block the acquisition. But the green light comes with a clear signal that Brussels will not tolerate the aggressive use of patents to inhibit competition. The Commission last week opened an investigation into Samsung, over claims the world's largest smartphone maker refused to grant access to its technology at a reasonable price. It cited lawsuits launched by the South Korean group against Apple as one of its concerns. In a separate long-running probe, the Commission is weighing up whether to bring a wide-ranging antitrust complaint against Google's search business. It wants to establish whether the search engine downgraded competitors" services in its results, instead favouring its own content.