Microsoft
and Samsung have announced jointly that their dispute over Android
royalty payments is now over. An end of the legal dispute will mean
that Samsung might return to making budget Windows-powered smartphones.
Microsoft
has lots of patents from its Windows OS, which the company uses
offensively against Android OEMs with the goal of getting them to sign
licensing agreements. Microsoft stated that over 50 percent of Android
OEMs had signed deals with the company in 2013, and according to reports
the company's yearly Android patent earnings are approx. $2 billion an
year.
Samsung
signed two contracts with Microsoft in 2011, a cross-licensing
agreement and a business collaboration agreement. Samsung stopped making
the payments to Microsoft post the
Nokia acquisition which it said was a violation of the agreement—and withheld payments.
Microsoft
took Samsung to court last year after the company stopped making
per-device royalties to Microsoft for every Android product it sells.
The case had revealed that in 2013 Microsoft had earned $1 billion from
Samsung in the form of patent-licensing royalties.
Samsung’s
Jaewan Chi, Executive Vice President and Global Legal Affairs &
Compliance Team and Microsoft’s David Howard, Corporate Vice President
and Deputy General Counsel have released a joint statement:
“Samsung
and Microsoft are pleased to announce that they have ended their
contract dispute in U.S. court as well as the ICC arbitration. Terms of
the agreement are confidential.”
According
to reports, Samsung's contract with Microsoft will continue but details
about the payments have not been revealed. Samsung has been trying to
gain back its market share by manufacturing affordable handsets.
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See more at:
http://www.digit.in/general/microsoft-and-samsung-end-their-android-royalties-dispute-25238.html#sthash.StfcwVU4.dpuf
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