Google High-Up Warns Apple v.s. Google Patent War Will Hurt Consumers

Google's chief lawyer Kent Walker has warned that Apple and Google's ongoing patent war will end up hurting consumers.

Speaking to The Guardian, Walker warned that each company's ongoing frenzy to secure more patents was, "gumming up the works of innovation".

Walker's comment refers to the increasing cost patent disputes are costing tech companies. In the interview Walker went on to predict a Cold War-esque scenario where each company hoards patents just to ensure its rivals can't produce new tech.

Discussing the tech industry's race towards the prophesied future tech battleground Walker commented:

"It's hard to find what's the best path -- there's so much litigation, We're exploring a variety of different things. The tech industry has a significant problem and Software patents are kind of gumming up the works of innovation.

"Each side can blow the other up on some level - everybody can block the other's products from coming to market... You create this mutually assured destruction scenario, but it's very expensive to get all those munitions."

Walker's words reflect the increasingly dire state of the tech industry. To date Apple is currently suing and being counter-sued by numerous other tech developers, including big-names like HTC and Samsung -- both of which make devices running Google's Android operating system.

Google itself is currently embroiled in a number of lawsuits, the most high-profile being its ongoing legal battle with Oracle.

Oracle accused Google of infringing upon Java technology copyrighted by it when it developed its Android OS.