U.S. and European (EU) regulators have given the thumbs up to Google Inc.'s US$12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. Regulators in China, Taiwan, and Israel have yet to approve the acquisition.

Google agreed to purchase the company in August, and would as a result ascertain its 17,000 patents, and 7,500 patent applications.

Although the U.S. and EU officials approved the deal, it told Google that they will keep their eyes on them.

EU Competition Commission Joaquin Almunia told reporters "the merger decision should not, and will not mean that we are not concerned by the possibility that once Google is the owner of [Motorola's] portfolio, Google can use these patents [by] linking them with its Android devices. This is our worry."

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is also unsure about how Google intends to use these patents down the line, but noted that such uncertainty wasn't enough of a reason for regulators to block the acquisition.

"[We] determined that the acquisition of the patents by Google did not substantially lessen competition, but how Google may exercise its patents in the future remains a significant concern," read a statement issued by the DOJ.

If the deal goes through, Google will obtain one of the mobile phone industry's largest patent libraries, plus hardware and manufacturing operations. This could potentially lead to Google being able to create its own smartphones.

Additionally, the DOJ has also approved the purchase of 6,000 Nortel Networks Corp. patents, and patents applications, by a consortium that includes Apple Inc., Research In Motion Ltd., Microsoft Corp., EMC Corp., Ericsson, and Sony Corp. The purchase price here is US$4.5 billion.

Apple and Microsoft have stated that they would not file infringement lawsuits based on the Nortel patents.

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