Redmond, Washington — As the patent wars continue, software monopolist Microsoft over the weekend has struck two new patent-protection deals with hardware makers Acer and Viewsonic into royalty-paying patent deals, which will cover tablet computers and smartphones powered by Google’s Android and Chrome operating systems.
It is a strange legal mess, and clearly there are some companies willing to fight it. But Acer and ViewSonic are not in that group. Both companies have been producing Android devices, and now, both companies have signed onto Microsoft’s growing list of patent licensees.
According to the Redmond Vole, both the companies have signed a patent agreement that provides broad coverage under Microsoft’s patent portfolio for their tablets and mobile phones running the Android or Chrome Platform. Although the contents of the agreement have not been disclosed, the parties indicate that Microsoft will receive royalties under the agreement.
Acer endorsed a licensing deal with Microsoft that includes “broad coverage under Microsoft’s patent portfolio for Acer’s tablets and smartphones running the Android platform,” Microsoft said in a press release. Acer’s Iconia Tab, among other devices, runs Android. The deal between Microsoft and Viewsonic specifies that the latter will pay royalties for its tablets and mobile phones running Google Android or Chrome. No exact financial terms were disclosed by Microsoft.
Microsoft’s Horacio Gutierrez (Credit: Microsoft)
“We are delighted that Acer is taking advantage of our industry wide licensing program established to help companies address Android’s IP issues,” Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel of intellectual property and licensing at Microsoft, wrote in a Sept. 8 statement. “This agreement is an example of how industry leaders can reach commercially reasonable arrangements that address intellectual property.”
Microsoft has made no secret of its disposition to sue those Android device manufacturers who refuse to enter into a royalty agreement. Both Motorola and Barnes & Noble opted out to fight out their respective battles in court rather than submit.
“Microsoft is misusing these patents as part of a strategy to try to eliminate or marginalize the competition to its own Windows Phone 7 mobile device operating system posted by the open-source Android operating system and other open source operating systems,” read Barnes & Noble’s counterclaim to Microsoft’s lawsuit, filed April 25 with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington at Seattle. “Microsoft’s conduct directly harms both competition for and consumers of eReaders, smartphones, tablet computers, and other mobile electronic devices, and renders Microsoft’s patents unenforceable.”
Rather than chasing Google for patent violations, Microsoft has targeted device makers, forcing them to license Microsoft’s patents that it alleges Android and Chrome infringe upon. Last year, Microsoft cut a deal with its longtime partner HTC. And in recent months, it has made pacts with several smaller device makers including Wistron and Onkyo.
After last weeks deals were announced, Microsoft’s general counsel Brad Smith tweeted that more agreements were coming.
“It is safe to predict more will follow this fall,” Smith wrote.
Microsoft general counsel and senior vice president Brad Smith’s tweet about the latest patent-protection deals.
The Redmond, Wash., company also sued Motorola last year, alleging that several of the handset maker’s Android devices infringe on Microsoft patents.
However, Google recently acquired Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. It is now improbable whether that will give the search engine giant the intellectual property cover it needs to more effectively defend its smartphone platform is also an open question.