Despite the complexity of the litigation, no financial details of the agreement were disclosed. By agreeing to drop all current patent litigation, the slate is wiped clean between Microsoft and Google, the two of which will now work together on various technologies, including a royalty-free video format.
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The disputes, which lasted for a few five years, saw Google demanding royalties in the United States and Germany over technology and ideas in the Xbox games console, while Microsoft in return had sought to stop Google’s former Motorola Mobility subsidiary from using particular features. A statement released by Google(NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) says that both firms have “agreed on certain patent matters and (look forward to) working together in other areas in the future to benefit our customers”. The newly stated resolution to previous court cases doesn’t mean Microsoft and Google won’t clash again. Google has signed a series of patent truces with major players like Ericsson and Cisco in the past two years, aiming to starve trolls of oxygen. There’s no mention of what those “patent matters” might be.
There hasn’t been much love between Microsoft and Google, though, but an announcement Wednesday may signal an easing of those tensions. Microsoft said Motorola had failed in its obligation to fairly license its patents over video compression and wireless technology.
Even Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols sounds (cautiously) optimistic: With this new Google rapprochement, Microsoft does indeed appear to be on its way to adopting a more open-source friendly intellectual property (IP) approach. A USA appeals court had ruled in July that the low licensing rate the software giant pays to use the patents had been properly set by a federal judge in Seattle. Another one was filed against Motorola, which was then newly acquired by Google.
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Microsoft’s settlement reflects upon the new philosophy CEO Satya Nadella has introduced to be more pragmatic in dealing with the rest of the world. However, Microsoft won the case in 2013, when the company was ordered to pay only $1.8 million a year for the royalties. At least in Europe, the companies will be more civil and understanding of each other as compared in the U.S. where patent lawsuits are prevalent.
