Thursday, April 18, 2013

Week 12 Blog 2 - Microsoft's License Agreement

I read an article on Foss Patents about Microsoft and Hon Hai, a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturing company and who is the parent company of Foxconn, signing a patent deal for Android and Chrome devices. With this patent license agreement, their clients will now be protected from patent claims from their uses of the Android and Chrome operating systems. Thus, they will not have to worry about infringing on Microsoft's patents anymore!
Hon Hai has basically agreed to pay royalties to Microsoft for its Android and Chrome devices. According to the author, this is bad news for Google since it has been denying that their devices do not infringe on any of Microsoft's patents.
However, this was not the first Android license agreement  for Microsoft; in fact, this was the 20th one. They have also signed patent deals with LG, HTC, Samsung, General Dynamics Itronix, Barnes and Noble, Nikon, Acer, and several others. The author of the article is wondering what the 21st deal will look like. What was special about this particular agreement between Hon Hai and Microsoft was that it came out as a big surprise. No one predicted this was going to take place as no rumors existed about the deal.
Likewise to the author, I don't think it will take too long for a negotiation between Google's Motorola Mobility and Microsoft to take place...what do you think?

http://www.fosspatents.com/2013/04/foxconn-parent-hon-hai-signs-with.html


Posted by at

6 comments:

  1. UnknownApril 18, 2013 at 7:27 PM

    interesting article. is royalty really the way out? both parties save money from lawsuits and no one would risk having sales bans implemented

    ReplyDelete
  2. AARENApril 19, 2013 at 12:35 AM

    Very informative post. Thanks for sharing.

    android application development

    ReplyDelete
  3. Aaron SaucedaApril 19, 2013 at 9:02 PM

    So this means Microsoft may now use Google's Android, simply paying royalties? Wow, if that's correct, it could represent a positive outlook for Microsoft's mediocre mobile arm.

    ReplyDelete
  4. ShayanApril 21, 2013 at 10:50 PM

    To point out that this was Microsoft's license agreement with Android for the TWENTIETH time is significant. These are the strategic behind the scenes moves that Microsoft is making for the future. They realize what the future has in store for Android and Microsoft wants to be a big part of it. Definitely a smart move.

    ReplyDelete
  5. maamaablacksheepApril 21, 2013 at 11:43 PM

    Would royalties be based on sales? I would think Android wouldn't dare use Microsoft OS technologies and vice versa. It sounds like a good plan otherwise.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Harshil GoelApril 22, 2013 at 5:15 PM

    If I was Google, and I saw this go through, I would be supremely irritated. This is a major win for Hon Hai. I am curious if Microsoft does these types of arrangements often.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)