14 DAY TRIAL // The latest patent licensing agreement that Microsoft inked with a device manufacturer leveraging Google’s open source platform and browser technologies is the fourth in approximately a week, eight days to be exact. The last out of the four companies to enter an intellectual property deal with the software giant is Taipei-based Wistron, yet another Taiwan manufacturer agreeing to pay Microsoft patent royalties for its usage of Android.
According to the Redmond company, the agreement covers Wistron’s tablets, mobile phones, e-readers and other consumer devices, but only those running Google’s Android or Chrome platform.
Microsoft has made it clear in the past that it considers Android to be infringing on a number of its patents, and sent a message to device manufacturers using Google’s open source platform to get ready to pay for peace of mind if they opt to use the operating system with their products.
“We are pleased that Wistron is taking advantage of our industrywide licensing program, established to help companies address Android’s IP issues,” noted Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel of Intellectual Property and Licensing at Microsoft.
No Wistron representative commented on the patent licensing agreement with Microsoft. At the same time, both parties kept details of the deal quiet, including the financial terms.
Still, as was the case on all occasions, Microsoft stressed that it will receive IP-related royalties from Wistron.
In the last week of June 2011, Microsoft announced that it had convinced General Dynamics Itronix, Velocity Micro, Inc., and Onkyo Corp. to sign similar patent agreements designed to cover Android-based form factors, with a focus on tablets.
All the examples mentioned above share the same lack of additional details, with no financial terms being made public.
For the deal inked with Onkyo on the last day in June, the same omnipresent Gutierrez stated:
“We are pleased that Onkyo has taken advantage of our patent licensing program for Android devices and has signed this agreement. This agreement and similar agreements recently announced evidence the momentum and success of our licensing program.”