Microsoft Inks Android Patent License With Another Company: Compal

[dgstorm]

From the way things are turning out, Microsoft is laughing all the way to the bank at Android's success. They just worked out yet another licensing deal with an Android manufacturer; a company named Compal. Now, Microsoft has licensing deals with over half of all Android manufacturers. You can see far Microsoft's licensing progression has come in the graph above. Here is Microsoft's statement on the matter,

“We are pleased to have reached this agreement with Compal, one of the leaders in the original design manufacturing, or ODM, industry. Together with the license agreements signed in the past few months with Wistron and Quanta Computer, today’s agreement with Compal means more than half of the world’s ODM industry for Android and Chrome devices is now under license to Microsoft’s patent portfolio,” said Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel, Intellectual Property Group at Microsoft. “We are proud of the continued success of our licensing program in resolving IP issues surrounding Android and Chrome.”

I know it is just a "corporate-speak lip-service document" with all the feeling of a dental patient with too much Novocaine, but doesn't its tone just seem a little bit smug? At least they are actually willing to work with licensing agreements instead of just trying to drive their competition out of the business...

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Source: DroidMatters