Google's continued battle to destroy property rights

Google wants to argue that patents are anticompetitive, but this is an extremely shortsighted view as a lot of products would never have been developed to begin with without patent protection. This list could obviously be added to. For example, does any believe that it is a coincidence that the Google Android system was already being worked on when Schmidt was serving on Apple's board of directors? Anyway, here is a short list from Forbes:

First, arguably no other Fortune 500 company has ever been more hostile to others’ property rights than Google.
-- To go public in 2004, Google had to settle an Overture patent infringement claim for $250 million over the core invention underlying Google’s Adwords auction process.
-- In 2005, Google began scanning copyrighted books without the permission of the rights holders; the number of infringed works now numbers 15 million books and counting. After being sued around the world by authors and publishers, Google settled for $125 million, but that settlement has been opposed for the last two years as anti-competitive by the Register of Copyrights, the Department of Justice and a Federal Court.
-- In 2007, Viacom filed a billion-dollar copyright infringement suit against Google’s YouTube for illegally downloading over 100,000 copyrighted videos. The lower court decision noted Google knew it willfully infringed copyrighted videos.
-- In 2010, Oracle sued Google for billions of dollars because it “knowingly, directly and repeatedly infringed Oracle’s Java-related property.” The presiding Federal judge in the case has agreed to include an incriminating Google email that shows Android officials in Google did know they needed to license the Java patents in dispute.
-- Also in 2010, Skyhook Wireless sued Google for infringing several of its WiFi location engine patents that collectively enable most location-driven mobile applications. Google’s competitors have respected and licensed Skyhook’s patents.

Meanwhile Google is ramping up its donations to liberal groups. Some details are available here.