Google and Samsung have signed a deal that will see the two companies sharing free access to one another’s patents over the next decade.
The deal appears to cover a broad range of patents currently held by both companies, as well as those filed over the next ten years.
Samsung announced the deal over on its official Samsung Tomorrow blog. It makes a great deal of sense for both parties.
Samsung is by far the biggest Android manufacturer on the market. One recent independent report claimed that the company was responsible for a staggering 63 percent of all Android devices - double that of all other Android manufacturers combined.
Conversely, a huge part of Samsung’s smartphone and tablet success stems from the Android OS. The Korean company has been developing its own Tizen OS in recent years, but has struggled to get its first Tizen-powered phone out onto the market.
This move shows Samsung’s long term commitment to the Android platform amid such murmurs of taking its OS fate into its own hands.
Both companies took thinly veiled swipes at the ever-litigious Apple in their official statements for the deal.
"We’re pleased to enter into a cross-license with our partner Samsung,” said Google’s Deputy General Counsel for Patents, Allen Lo. “By working together on agreements like this, companies can reduce the potential for litigation and focus instead on innovation."
Meanwhile, the Head of Samsung’s Intellectual Property Center, Dr. Seungho Ahn, had this to say:
"This agreement with Google is highly significant for the technology industry. Samsung and Google are showing the rest of the industry that there is more to gain from cooperating than engaging in unnecessary patent disputes."
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