Samsung’s legal troubles from its competitors – most notably Apple, seems to be taking its toll on the company, and seems to be losing its spark to fight some legal battles that are in its way. Samsung just recently announced that it will begin paying royalties to Microsoft for every single Android device it sells, whether it is a phone or a tablet. The agreement was reached between the two parties so that the patent infringement lawsuit Microsoft is filing against Samsung will be withdrawn.
This is not the first royalty agreement Microsoft has entered with a company regarding the sale of Android devices. Microsoft has forged the same agreement with other Android device manufacturers, the most notable of these is with HTC, which is the other company that produces much of the Android devices on the market.
The decision to agree to a royalty payment is to keep Microsoft from suing these companies. Microsoft claims that no Android device they have seen has not infringed on any of Microsoft’s patents. The most crucial element in the suit though is not being made to the public – that is, what Microsoft patents are Android device manufacturers violating. Even though no one knows what (the exact patent infringements are not being made public) these Android manufacturers are violating, Microsoft’s previous lawsuits against Linux for precisely the same charges may shed a little light on the issue because Android is based on the Linux OS.
It’s ironic that Microsoft, which has shown how much it dislikes the Android OS entering the market, is also earning from its existence and success.
Originally posted on September 29, 2011 @ 8:01 am
thanks for share!