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Google, Microsoft Drop Patent Lawsuits in U.S., Germany
Google and Microsoft have called a truce on their legal battles in the United States and Germany, spanning across many lawsuits all in regards to certain patents and royalties- perhaps Apple and Samsung could find a few inspiration here.
Both Microsoft and Google have released a joint statement on the matter which shied from saying that they have agreed to all matters, but have said that they have in principle agreed to “collaborate on certain patent matters”. subsequently sold Motorola to Lenovo for roughly $3 billion in January of previous year.
“Google and Microsoft have agreed to collaborate on specific patent issues and expect working together in other places as time goes on to do good for our customers”, the firms said in a joint statement.
Microsoft charged Google over a patent that permitted for lengthy texts delivered to become shattered into items, and reassembled about the recipient’s telephone. No financial terms for the settling of the disputes was disclosed. Motorola vehemently refuted and was dealt a major blow in court when a US District Judge concluded in a 2013 case that Microsoft should only pay $1.8 million per year in royalty fees. The two companies have settled all their patent issues, settling 18 cases between them. And Microsoft also succeeded in winning a U.S. injunction against Motorola handsets infringing on the ActiveSync patents, though this was never enforced.
But the settlement has been viewed by one patent expert as a setback for Microsoft, as he said that Redmond had made little headway in five years of legal action against Google.
Meanwhile, Microsoft and ASUS announced the expansion of an earlier patent licensing agreement.
Patent battles between a few of the world’s largest technology companies are common, and victorious lawsuits are rebuffed in appeals or filed in other courts or nations.
Settling also helps Microsoft’s image, since patent fights lead to discussion about patent trolls and nobody really loves lawyers making money fighting over obscure points of intellectual property except for the lawyers racking up the billable hours.
The agreement marks a new amity between Microsoft and one of its top erstwhile enemies, and reflects a different tone set by Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella.
