Software Licensing Featured Articles

Microsoft and Motorola Sign Android Licensing Agreement

By Shawn Hebert, TMCnet Contributing Writer

Microsoft (News - Alert) has reached a software licensing agreement with Motorola Solutions covering devices running Android and Chrome OS.

The license will give Motorola Solutions – a separate company from Motorola Mobility, which Google (News - Alert) acquired back in 2012 and then sold off to Lenovo – worldwide coverage under Microsoft's patent portfolio for its devices running Android and Chrome OS.

Nick Psyhogeos, general manager and associate general counsel for IP licensing of the Innovation and Intellectual Property Group at Microsoft, noted that the company prefers licensing to litigation, since licensing is a more effective way to share technology and accelerate the pace of innovation.

As no one outside the two firms knows what the financial terms of the deal are, what products it covers and how long it lasts, it becomes difficult to estimate how much Microsoft earns from these deals. Regardless, the figure is thought to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars per year, at least. 

In a press release of the announcement, Joe White, vice president of Enterprise Mobile Computing at Motorola (News - Alert) Solutions, did not provide any indication as to how this will impact his business, only to say “our communications technology works best for everyone when it is backed with robust intellectual property and patents”.

Microsoft's deal with Motorola Solutions comes on the heels of a similar agreement with Dell (News - Alert) Inc. last month and is the latest in a long line of companies that make products running the Android and Chrome OS that have reached licensing deals with Microsoft.  The Redmond-based company has argued that arch rival Google's systems use technology covered by its patents.

Microsoft launched its intellectual property-licensing program in 2003. Since then, the company has entered into more than 1,100 licensing agreements, and has signed similar deals with more than 20 companies.

In addition to Dell, agreements have also been made with Acer, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, HTC (News - Alert), LG and Samsung.

According to a new study by IT research firm Gartner Inc., Android is forecasted to be the top OS choice across all devices over the next two years, with Microsoft's Windows OS becoming the runner up, followed by Apple's iOS and Mac OS, respectively.