Microsoft Strikes Patent Deal with LG; Why Google should be Concerned

Microsoft has brokered a patent licensing agreement with LG. This is Microsoft’s 11th deal with a device manufacturer that develops consumer electronics devices that run on Android or Chrome OS, including major agreements with HTC, Samsung, and Acer. Details of the deal remain undisclosed as of post time, much like its other agreements.

The Microsoft-LG deal makes Microsoft claim that more than 70 percent of all Android smartphones currently sold in the United States are covered under their patent portfolio. These deals enable Microsoft to be paid for its patents (numbering up to 24,000, both applied and acquired) and not Google for its Android patents. In a way, Microsoft is cashing in more from Android than Google will.

Google has yet to respond with the latest deal, but it has called out Microsoft’s methods as pure extortion and a sign the Redwood-based software company is “afraid of Android.”

Had Google successfully acquired over 6,000 patents from Nortel, however, Microsoft’s deals with Android device makers would never have happened.

Source: Microsoft, via TechCrunch

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