The US Department of Justice has just approved Google's buyout of Motorola, shortly after the European Commission cleared the deal earlier today. Google still needs the consent of China, Israel, and Taiwan to complete the deal, but if successful, it will reap a rich harvest of mobile patents from Motorola.

The DOJ echoed statements made earlier today by the EU: it maintains that while this acquisition isn't likely to harm the mobile market, it's still on guard against improper use of essential patents in the wireless device industry, and "will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action" against violators. It also says that Motorola Mobility has "had a long and aggressive history of seeking to capitalize on its intellectual property," but that Google's acquisition of Motorola is unlikely to change that policy. Seeing as the DOJ says that Google's commitments regarding its essential patent licensing policies are "ambiguous," there's likely plenty of legal action around Motorola's essential patents still to come.