After many years and 20 lawsuits pertaining to smartphones and videogame console patents, Microsoft and Google decided to call it quits and dropped all their disputes in the States and Europe. Instead, they’ve decided to collaborate in making things better and more beneficial for the consumers and to put an end to patent trolling.
“Google and Microsoft have agreed to collaborate on certain patent matters and anticipate working together in other areas in the future to benefit our customers.”
For a bit of history, both have been in a patent dispute since 2010, with MSFT accusing Google of using technologies in Android without paying royalties. Microsoft claims that Motorola wasn’t licensing its technology fairly, which was then inherited by Google as it acquired the company. And of course there’s the issue of ActiveSync, which Motorola used on its phones.
Both companies feel (like the rest of the tech industry) that patent trolling damages the industry. But whether this means that Windows Phone will get a YouTube app is another story.
Source: Bloomberg
