Samsung Tries To Terminate Its Android Patent License Agreement With Microsoft Through Court

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MS vs Samsung

We all know that Microsoft has lots of patents licensing deals with lots of Android OEMs. It was previously estimated that Microsoft may be earning over billion dollars in licensing revenue each year from these patents. In the recent court filing from Microsoft in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York, it was revealed that Samsung paid more than $1 billion to Microsoft as part of patent royalties. Microsoft has already filed a legal complaint as part of the ongoing contract dispute with Samsung.

Microsoft last month said the following regarding their case with Samsung,

As we said at the time we filed our complaint, we began this case for two primary reasons. First, we’ve asked the court to resolve a contract dispute with Samsung. After months of painstaking negotiations by two of the biggest and most sophisticated companies in the world, in 2011 Microsoft and Samsung agreed on the terms of a patent license agreement and a separate business collaboration agreement, the latter of which is unique to our relationship with Samsung and, as explained in paragraph 35 of the complaint, was aimed at promoting the development and sale of Windows smartphones and tablets by Samsung. Samsung has suggested that Microsoft has breached the business collaboration agreement. We disagree, and that’s why we asked the court to rule that Microsoft is not in breach. Second, Microsoft has asked for $6.9 million in damages due to unpaid interest from last year.

Earlier this week, Samsung made a new filing in the Southern District of New York regarding this case. Samsung is now asking the court to terminate its patent licensing agreement citing Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia’s Devices and Services division.

….. declaration that Samsung may terminate the [business collaboration agreement] and [patent license agreement] pursuant to BCA Sections 9.7 and 8.5.

FOSS Patents commented the following on this case,

If Samsung obtained such a declaration (by the court in New York or by an arbitration panel), it would be in a position to renegotiate the terms of the patent license agreement. Since the signing of that contract more than three years ago, smartphone patent assertions by all of the major players have been largely unsuccessful

Read more on this from the link below.

Source: FOSS Patents

More about the topics: case, Licensing, microsoft, patents, samsung

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