The Seattle-based company said Friday it will “continue to focus on competing vigorously for business and for customers”.
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The companies said they have been cooperating on such issues as the development of a unified patent court for the European Union, and on royalty-free technology for speeding up video on the Internet, while Google is still stuck with the charges of violating Antitrust Laws in European countries, and abusing its position in the Android Market.
“Microsoft has agreed to withdraw its regulatory complaints against Google, reflecting our changing legal priorities”.
As part of the agreement, the companies agreed to take up future concerns with each other before going to the authorities.
Under chief executive Satya Nadella, Microsoft has made a series of collaborative moves with rivals, including making versions of its popular productivity programs available on Apple devices.
Their respective predecessors, Steve Ballmer and Eric Schmidt, had a much more tense relationship.
The Microsoft-Google Patent started five years back, when Microsoft filed two complaints- over the Android smartphone features and Wi-Fi Video Patents, and against Motorola [not under Google at that time]. Microsoft had filed complaints against Google and funded industry groups aimed at encouraging regulators to go after Google.
Likewise, Google’s PR team told Re/Code that it, too, was dropping all complaints against Microsoft. The software giants settled their phone and Xbox patent dispute in September 2015, where Microsoft alleged Google used its mobile phone technology without paying royalties. This would have been a great strategy if Microsoft itself wasn’t also in crosshairs with the Commission.
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-Natalia Drozdiak contributed to this article.
