12 January 2012, 15:07

LG signs patent agreement with Microsoft

Microsoft Patent icon Microsoft has announced that LG Electronics has signed a patent agreement which covers LG's tablets, mobile phones and other devices running Android or Chrome OS. According to the press release, LG already had an existing agreement with Microsoft which the new agreement expands upon. Microsoft's Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel of the company's Intellectual Property Group says that "more than 70 percent of all Android smartphones sold in the U.S. are now receiving coverage under Microsoft’s patent portfolio".

LG's new agreement is the latest in a series of confidential agreements which Microsoft has forged with manufacturers of Android devices, including Compal, HTC, Samsung, Acer and Viewsonic, Wistron, Onkyo, General Dynamics Itronix and Velocity Micro. Details of which patents are involved in these agreements and what charges are being levied have not been disclosed by any party, and the LG agreement is no different. In practice, the agreements are believed to translate into a ten to fifteen dollar royalty paid to Microsoft for each device.

(djwm)

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