If this is in fact accurate (that Apple & Google R&D spend is less than their Patent spend), it's an incredible waste of time, money and talent: "In the smartphone industry alone, according to a Stanford University analysis, as much as $20 billion was spent on patent litigation and patent purchases in the last two years — an amount equal to eight Mars rover missions. Last year, for the first time, spending by Apple a…
If its from the same article I'm thinking about, it's including $12.5 billion for Google's purchase of Motorola Mobility. He bulk of the number is money spent purchasing other companies.
It's not like they're wasting billions of dollars on patent litigation instead of R&D. They're buying companies, including their engineers and their IP, instead of doing things in-house. Both companies are flush with cash-of course they're buying up all the technology companies they can find.