ACCESS Systems Americas, Inc. has signed a non-exclusive contract with Palm, Inc., according to which Palm will get a perpetual license for the Palm OS Garnet source code for $44 million (USD). The duo has also come to an understanding for extending the existing patent license owned by them.

 

As per the agreement, Palm has also received the rights to alter the code base of Palm OS Garnet to suit its handheld devices, which include the Palm Treo smartphone. ACCESS has also conferred Palm the prerogative to use the Operating System in whole, or in part, in any of its products and along with other technologies. The two companies have also decided to continue measuring compatibility of the Palm OS Garnet applications against the compatibility test harness being used jointly by them.

 

With the agreement ACCESS has reaffirmed its commitment to work in tandem with the licensees of its Operating Systems. "ACCESS remains strongly committed to supporting its Palm OS licensees and developers. We are also committed to preserving and furthering the pioneering legacy of our operating system," said Jeanne Seeley, CEO of ACCESS Systems Americas, Inc. according to a press release. "This agreement gives Palm more flexibility as it designs new devices while also enabling Palm OS Garnet developers to preserve their current investment in applications for Palm OS Garnet-based devices. We are pleased Palm has extended its commitment to the Palm OS platform and we look forward continuing to work with them."

 

Palm is equally upbeat about the deal. “This agreement gives Palm increased ability to innovate on the Palm OS Garnet base, and to effectively differentiate Palm products long into the future,” said Mark Bercow, senior vice president of business development at Palm, Inc in another release. “We value the Palm OS development community, and are very committed to our loyal base of Palm OS customers, all of whom will benefit from the agreement just concluded with ACCESS.”

 

A member of the ACCESS CO., LTD., group of companies, ACCESS Systems Americas has been credited with creating ACCESS Linux Platform, which is the first fully integrated, commercial grade Linux-based operating system made especially for mobile phones and devices.