Microsoft adds Foxconn parent to list of Android patent deal scalps
Summary: The world's largest contract manufacturer has joined Microsoft's Android licensing party.
Microsoft has finally convinced Foxconn's parent company Hon Hai to agree to its Android licensing deal, joining the already sizeable list of original device manufacturers that produce Android devices that have already signed on the dotted line.
Like previous agreements Microsoft has struck with Hon Hai's rivals, details of the worldwide patent licensing agreement were not disclosed. However, Microsoft said that it will receive royalties from Hon Hai.
The agreement, announced on Tuesday, offers Hon Hai coverage for Microsoft's unspecified patents for devices running Android and Chrome OS, which have included makers of smartphones, embedded devices, and cameras.
"The licensing agreement with Microsoft represents those efforts and our continued support of international trade agreements that facilitate implementation of effective patent protection," said Samuel Fu, director of the intellectual property department at Hon Hai, adding that the company holds 54,000 patents of its own.
Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel of the Intellectual Property Group at Microsoft, commented that the "world's largest contract manufacturer" had now joined its program that already includes rival ODMs, Compal and Quanta Computer, in addition to Acer, Samsung, Barnes & Noble, LG Electronics, and HTC among others.
While a significant addition, Hon Hai, Apple's primary iPhone contract manufacturer, draws most of its revenues from iDevices and last week posted a 19 percent year on year decline in Q1 2013 sales that was attributed to soft demand for the iPhone, Reuters reported.
Nonetheless, in 2011, Microsoft struck licensing agreements with companies accounting for over half of all Android devices. Google chairman Eric Schmidt announced yesterday that new Androids were being activated at a rate of 1.5 million a day, according to CNET.
One manufacturer still holding out on Microsoft's Android licensing agreements is Motorola Mobility, which is in ongoing patent litigation with Microsoft — drawing Google, Motorola Mobility's owner and driving force behind Android, into the fray.
The pair are set to face off again over patents in the Mannheim regional court this Friday, according to patents expert Florian Mueller.
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Talkback
Re:
Android is a stolen product.
How much did they get paid?
I will believe when I see numbers.
Look it up. MS makes a lot more money from Android than Google does,
oh well...
If FoxConn signed up
See, Android was good for MS in many ways! Linux was good as well. Nice to see Open Source supporting MS.
Android pours money into MS through licensing.
Linux makes it look like Windows has competitors so the governments leave MS alone
Nice to see all that financial support for MS!
Write your Congressman
Cynical99: "Android pours money into MS through licensing"
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/microsoft-and-barnes-and-noble-settle-patent-dispute-create-new-subsidiary/12575
perhaps never
RE: "perhaps never"
On the surface, NewCo, the joint venture between Microsoft and B & N, is about educational book sales. If B & N survives, Microsoft might eek out some revenue from book sales in addition to Nook tablet sales. Still, "perhaps never" is not a bad answer.
NewCo was more of a PR move than a real venture,
B&N will eventually fold, and MS won't even feel the loss. ;)
Errr....
Microsoft adds Foxconn parent to list of Android patent deal scalps
Why do you care?
Sounds fair
Sorry,
So much of these software patents are trivial crap. The claim is that just because something is patented it much have required millions and millions in investment to develop. The good ones like complex protocols end up under FRAND where they are licensed.
Secondly, just because you have a huge portfolio of trivial software patents doesn't mean you should wield them offensively. This is a matter of ethics and karma is and will payback.
Microsoft, you suk and I hope you continue your painful embarrasing journey right down the crapper.
Oh....
Here's a nice example: You have your own company. You create some type of technology that will revolutionize the computer industry but spent years and a lot of money to do so. Out of the blue, some mammoth company stole your work and includes it as part of their work without compensating you.
I guess you don't mind if they stole your technology, right?
On the other hand, some "technology" such as swiping the screen to unlock a device is totally useless to try and patent. [Sort of like Google patenting the picking of one's nose.]
Be careful of what you say..
Also, did anybody read any of the transcripts of the M$ DOJ trial? I had to stop reading after a while because it was making me too angry over all of the lying and cheating by M$ that was being uncovered.
Ah, the obligatory reference to Mr Mueller!
Kudos to Microsoft