Google-Motorola deal to get EU decision in February

European regulators have set a new deadline of 13 February to decide the fate of Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility, Reuters reported on Thursday.

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Regulators for the European Union originally said they would make a decision on the merger by 10 January. But in December, the European Commission delayed the deadline stating that it wanted to review additional documents that Google had submitted to support its case.

Google announced its plans to buy Motorola in August for $12.5bn (£8.1bn). Google, which makes the mobile operating system, Android, said it plans to run Motorola as a separate company. Google has said it is interested in the troubled phone maker mainly for its strong patent portfolio. Google and many of its handset partners that use the Android operating system have been fending off several lawsuits in the last few years over possible patent infringement.

US regulators are also still evaluating the deal.

For more on this ZDNet UK-selected story, see EU sets February deadline to decide Google's bid for Motorola on CNET News.