According to EE Times, Microsoft had recently made a worldwide patent licensing agreement with Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Co., the parent company of electronics contract manufacturer Foxconn. As many of you may know, Foxconn is the primary manufacturer of Apple's products. But the deal, in fact, is subjected to devices running the Android and Chrome OS, including smartphones, tablets and televisions built by Foxconn. Microsoft said it would receive unspecified royalties from Hon Hai under the agreement.
Microsoft has been aggressive in threatening legal action against handset OEMs. It's known that HTC, Acer, LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics have already agreed to pay Microsoft royalties on Android-based phones. Only Motorola Mobility, a direct subsidiary of Google, is fighting Microsoft in court over patents. Many believes that Foxconn may have agreed to the deal because it hopes to become an OEM eventually, making its own branded products. HTC took such a path—starting as a contract manufacturer before eventually making its own successful handsets. Foxconn knows that they are building products for customers that are being sued by Microsoft, and they may potentially develop their own products with these patents involved. As for Microsoft, Foxconn is an easy target since Google doesn't sell their OS and apps. There’s no percentage of any revenue that can be usefully charged for having violated Microsoft patents. Here is the quote from the director of IP department at Hon Hai regard to the patent licensing deal:
"We recognize and respect the importance of international efforts that seek to protect intellectual property," said Samuel Fu, director of the intellectual property department at Hon Hai, in a statement. "The licensing agreement with Microsoft represents those efforts and our continued support of international trade agreements that facilitate implementation of effective patent protection."
I think this agreement is a huge sucess to Microsoft's Android licensing program. Without a very time and capital consuming patent lawsuits, Hon Hai has demonstrated the effectiveness and the global reach of the program. I certainly believe that Microsoft will have its next target very soon. It's just a matter of fact whether its next target would follow many Android phones OEMs instead of launching another "patent war."
Source: http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4412249/Microsoft--Foxconn-ink-patent-licensing-deal
While nominally a win-win situation for Hon Hai and Google, I think it is likely that Google held the threat of litigation over Hon Hai in the case that Hon Hai wouldn't agree to the licensing agreement. I think that that threat is a common reason for companies to agree in "mutually beneficial" licensing agreements, given the huge damages that can result from lost patent infringement cases.
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