This post was contributed by Matthew Marquardt, Partner, Norton Rose Canada

Last week, apparently by accident, Motorola Mobility leaked specs and images of its newest mobile device, the Atrix HD. This is the first new smartphone announced by Motorola since Google bought the company in May.

While the device bears a strong family resemblance to earlier Motorola products, many observers expect, unsurprisingly, that future products will bear a more apparent Google stamp. Google has been working its way into the smartphone market since 2005 when it purchased Android for $50 million.

How does Google, which started as an Internet search engine, end up calling the shots for the designs of one of the world’s best-known makers of mobile devices? By paying $12.5 billion for the privilege.