Microsoft adds LG as an Android licensee - now cover 70% of the US Android market

Reading time icon 2 min. read


Readers help support MSPoweruser. When you make a purchase using links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Tooltip Icon

Read the affiliate disclosure page to find out how can you help MSPoweruser effortlessly and without spending any money. Read more

Microsoft has announced that it has added LG as an Android licensee.  The license “provides broad coverage under Microsoft’s patent portfolio for LG’s tablets, mobile phones and other consumer devices running the Android or Chrome OS Platform.”

Together with other Android licensees HTC, Samsung and Acer, 70% of the US market are now covered by the Microsoft licence, leaving Motorola, who is currently in litigation with Microsoft, as the main hold-out.

“We are pleased to have built upon our longstanding relationship with LG to reach a mutually beneficial agreement. Together with our 10 previous agreements with Android and Chrome OS device manufacturers, including HTC, Samsung and Acer, this agreement with LG means that more than 70 percent of all Android smartphones sold in the U.S. are now receiving coverage under 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 program in resolving the IP issues surrounding Android and Chrome OS.”

The new licensee is interesting, given that Microsoft’s case agaisnt Barnes and Noble, another prominent hold-out, is felt to be somewhat shaky, with Microsoft recently withdrawing one of the patents it was using against the company.

More about the topics: android, microsoft, patents