Microsoft Strikes Another Patent Deal With An Android, Chrome OS Device Maker: LG

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

Robin Wauters is the European Editor of tech blog The Next Web and lead editor of Virtualization.com. He was a senior staff writer at TechCrunch until his departure in February 2012. Aside from his professional blogging activities, he’s an entrepreneur, event organizer, occasional board adviser and angel investor but most importantly an all-round startup champion. Wauters lives and works in... → Learn More

lg
lg

Microsoft has signed a patent licensing agreement with LG, maker of tablets, phones and other consumer electronics devices running Android or Chrome OS.

This marks the 11th deal with a device manufacturer leveraging Google’s operating system software; other major agreements were struck with the likes of HTC, Samsung and Acer, among others.

Now that the LG deal is done, Microsoft says more than 70 percent of all Android smartphones sold in the United States today are covered under its patent portfolio. Evil, or genius?

Either way, Android is turning into quite a cash cow for the Redmond software giant. No wonder Google refers to their methods as pure extortion and a sign that they’re afraid of Android.

Terms of the deal with LG were, per usual, not disclosed, although it’s worth pointing out that Microsoft says it expands upon a pre-existing agreement between the pair.

We’re anxiously awaiting Google’s response to this announcement.


Product: Android
Website: code.google.com
Company Google

Android is a software platform for mobile devices based on the Linux operating system and developed by Google and the Open Handset Alliance. It allows developers to write managed code in Java that utilizes Google-developed software libraries, but does not support programs developed in native code. The unveiling of the Android platform on 5 November 2007 was announced with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of 34 hardware, software and telecom companies devoted to advancing open standards...

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Company: LG
Website: lg.com
Launch Date: 1947

The LG Group is South Korea’s third largest conglomerate that produces electronics, chemicals, and telecommunications products and operates subsidiaries like LG Electronics, LG Telecom, Zenith Electronics and LG Chem in over 80 countries.

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