Apple-Google Duel for Mobile Supremacy Boon for Lawyers: Tech

Apple Inc., Google Inc. and rival handset and software makers, seeking to defend their turf in the surging mobile-phone market, are competing for top patent lawyers as litigation floods courtrooms worldwide.

Google is looking for a vice president of patents, a new position, said a person familiar with the plans, who declined to be named because the position isn’t advertised. The company, which is also hiring a manager of patent acquisitions, said today it agreed to buy Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. for $12.5 billion, gaining wireless patents in its biggest deal ever. Apple created a new position last year to head intellectual-property litigation, and about half of the 18 legal positions Intel Corp. aims to fill focus on intellectual property.