"Google stands for innovation as opposed to patent wars... The last thing we want to see are innovation and particular products being stopped," Schmidt said.
Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt on Thursday criticized the raging patent disputes in the global mobile industry, warning that they stifled innovation and reduced consumer choice.
"Google stands for innovation as opposed to patent wars... The last thing we want to see are innovation and particular products being stopped," he said at an event in Seoul to launch Google's new Nexus 7 tablet PC.
Global smartphone giants Samsung Electronics (IW 1000/15) and Apple (IW 500/9) are currently locked in a long-running patent battle over design and technology in 10 nations including the U.S. and Japan.
Schmidt declined to comment on any specific case, but was due to meet Samsung's mobile chief JK Shin later on Thursday. The South Korean firm uses Google's Android platform on its smartphones and tablets.
Last month, a California jury ordered Samsung to pay Apple $1.05 billion in damages for illegally copying iPhone and iPad features for its Galaxy S smartphones.
Apple, which has filed patent infringement actions on earlier versions of the Galaxy S series, added the newest Galaxy S III to the list in a fresh complaint filed on September 1.
Schmidt pointed to estimates that there are some 200,000 mobile patents with "complicated" and "overlapping" technical specifications.
"I think one of the worst things that has happened in the last few years is the belief that somehow, because there are so many patents... that one vendor could stop the sale of another vendor's devices," Schmidt said.
This "literally prevents choice, prevents innovation. And I think that's a very bad outcome," he added.
