Hello, this week I read an article from Foss Patents blog about Hon Hai, the parent company of Foxconn (which manufactures about 40% of the world's consumer electronics), just signed a worldwide licensing agreement with Microsoft and will agree to pay them royalties for infringing products using the Android and Chrome operating systems.
This is really bad news for Google, because from now on, every product produced by Foxconn or Hon Hai that has Android/Chrome operating systems will pay licensing fees to Microsoft, even though Google itself does not actually believe that they are infringing (despite the fact that Motorola lost a case with Microsoft before Google bought them). The director of IP at Hon Hai said, "we recognize and respect the importance of international efforts that seek to protect intellectual property. The licensing agreement with Microsoft represents those efforts and our continued support of international trade agreements that facilitate implementation of effective patent protection," and he illustrates such an open acceptance of international IP laws compared to Google's tactics of denying infringement.
Interestingly enough, this is the 20th patent licensing agreement between Microsoft and Hon Hai, and moving forwards there probably will be plenty more. I wonder how this might affect Google in their ability to remain competitive in this industry.
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