Confirmation arrived of the acquisition by Google of 1,023 IBM patents. No, it’s not the same story already published a few weeks ago: this is a new acquisition of a nearly equal number of patents and this time there is a complete list. Like a few weeks ago, however, the amount paid by Google remains confidential.

It remains true what was written in early August about the fact that Google has entered the arms race in the patents war but in the meantime there were other important events. First of all, about a month ago Google bought Motorola Mobility and interesting information arrived about this very important deal. In fact, the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission, the supervisory authority of the U.S.A. stock market) is in possession of filing concerning that negotiation which confirmed that Google was interested in obtaining patents, not a mobile devices manufacturer.

In essence, Google initially made ​​an offer to buy part of Motorola Mobility’s patents but the offer was rejected for the same reason why they’re needed by Google. In fact, Motorola Mobility has already been involved for some time in some litigations with Apple and needs its patents as a weapon in that battle. At that point, negotiations went forward but the subject was the buyout of Motorola Mobility, which after several rejected offers obtained from Google $12.5 billion paid primarily for its 17,000 patents.

Google set up a considerable arsenal and it was clear that it would use it. In fact, last week news came that Google transferred nine patents to HTC, a manufacturer of Android mobile devices also involved in several litigations with Apple.

In a war it’s obviously advantageous to have a well-stocked arsenal but having powerful allies is useful as well. In this sense, at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco there was the announcement of an alliance between Google and Intel in the field of mobile devices. Intel is a giant in the personal computer field but has no real presence in the smartphone sector and has a very limited presence in the tablet sector, almost the opposite of Google.

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Therefore Google and Intel can complement each other so they can work together to get Android on Intel hardware platforms to try to get stronger in the smartphones and tablets sector. In this case the opponent isn’t only Apple but also Microsoft, another giant who wants Windows to become a factor on tablets, a strongly growing sector.

Yes, Microsoft, a company that is adopting a strategy different from Apple in the patents war. In fact Bill Gates’ company prefers to avoid going to court but it has already arm-twisted some manufacturers of Android mobile devices into paying it claiming the violation of some of its patents. The paradox is that Microsoft earns more from Android than from Windows in the field of mobile devices.

It’s however true that one of the few lawsuits filed by Microsoft is against Google-Motorola, obviously knowing that in this case it wouldn be really complicated to reach an agreement out of court. Of course, Google doesn’t like Microsoft’s strategy, therefore it wouldn’t be surprising if the deal with Intel was also an alliance aimed at hitting Bill Gates’ company.

The patents war seems to offer continuous twists but the trend we’ve seen is to have Google getting stronger and stronger with the acquisition of patents and new allies. For a long time Google looked like a sleeping giant: now that it’s really woken up and in action will its enemies, as powerful as they are, manage not to be crushed?