Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Microsoft, Samsung In Patent Deal

Microsoft and Samsung Electronics Co. said this morning that the two have inked a patent cross-licensing agreement, where they will provide broad coverage for each other's products. According to the companies, Microsoft will receive royalties for Samsung's mobile phones and tablets running Android, and the two will cooperate on development and marketing of Windows Phone. Financial details of the patent deal were not announced. The patent coverage deal is the latest that Microsoft has been able to ink with a manufacturer of Android hardware; Microsoft claims its patents cover technology being used in Android, and has been extracting license and royalty fees from developers of Android-based phones. The Android operating system was developed by Microsoft rival Google.