Microsoft Announced a New Patent Licensing Partnership With Compal

Microsoft Corp. said Sunday it reached a patent licensing agreement with Taiwan-based Compal, giving the software giant royalty-generating deals with more than half of the world's manufacturers of mobile devices that run Android and Chrome.
Microsoft maintains that Android and Chrome use certain Microsoft patents and that manufacturers must pay to run the technology on their products. Google Inc., which makes Android and Chrome, disputes Microsoft's claim.

Microsoft has signed similar deals with companies including Samsung, Quanta Computers and Wistron.
This weekend, Microsoft announced a new patent licensing partnership with Compal, an original design manufacturer (ODM) of Android-powered smartphones and tablets. This new partnership means that Microsoft has licensing agreements with manufacturers that account for more than half of all Android devices produced.

The agreement with Compal, like the multitude of agreements that Microsoft has pressured other Android manufacturers into, requires the company to pay Microsoft a licensing fee for each Android tablet or smartphone that it produces. A number of the agreements are with smaller companies like Compal, but Microsoft has signed licensing contracts with big players like HTC and Samsung as well. Microsoft revealed that it had signed up Compal, one of the largest original design manufacturers (ODM), as part of its Android patent licensing operation.

According to Microsoft, "Our agreements ensure respect and reasonable compensation for Microsoft's inventions and patent portfolio. Microsoft is reportedly making around $440m a year from Google's Android operating system, while Google is having to fight a lawsuit filed by Oracle and, if its purchase of Motorola goes through, another from Microsoft. Cries of patent troll appear in the comments and it is hard to disagree, especially after Microsoft's statements about its licensing activities.

“More important, today’s announcement means that companies accounting for over half of all Android devices have now entered into patent license agreements with Microsoft,” they claim.
According to charts in the blog post, 55 percent of Android devices by worldwide revenue are subject to patent license agreements between Microsoft and original design manufacturers, such as Compal.

Moreover, 53 percent of Android smartphones by unit share in the United States are subject to patent license agreements between Microsoft and original equipment manufacturers, such as Samsung and HTC.
Some have concluded that Microsoft makes more money from Android than from its own Windows Phones, and HTC reportedly pays Microsoft $5 for each Android phone it sells. Google, meanwhile, distributes Android (at least the smartphone version) as open source software.

Google lashed out at Microsoft and other rivals in a recent blog post called “When patents attack Android,” claiming to be the victim of “a hostile, organized campaign... waged through bogus patents.”
Microsoft doesn’t just collect money from other companies, it also pays out plenty to protect itself, Microsoft’s legal team notes.

“Over the past decade we’ve spent roughly $4.5 billion to license in patents from other companies,” Microsoft said. Across all types of computing systems, Microsoft has entered into 1,133 agreements to license its patents to other companies. You are probably wondering which Microsoft patents have allowed Microsoft to sign up all these vendors to license deals. While all the details of licensing agreements aren’t made public, Microsoft’s Android-related patents have been revealed in lawsuits.