Microsoft Owns 100's of Key Android Patents

makes money on every Android device sold.... hehe.

Published on April 14, 2014 By starkers In Personal Computing

Well it seems Microsoft knows no bounds when stacking the odds in its favour. The UK Register reports that Microsoft is claiming to hold hundreds of Android patents, so could it in fact pose problems for Android device manufacturers, not to mention Google. According to one commenter, Microsoft owns around 200 patents essential to the manufacture of Android smartphones, so there is a potential for conflict should MS decide to revoke usage of the patents outside of its own sphere of control.

I suppose it should come as no surprise, with various technologies crossing platforms, but I'm curious as to why MS is just announcing this now. It seems Redmond tech giant has held these patents for some time, so what is the purpose of announcing its ownership so long after the fact? Is there an agenda behind it? Are the patent wars about to erupt again? Or is there another plan of attack to yet be unveiled?

So far there has been an announcement, then nothing at all... but is this the calm before the storm?

Oh how I love a good conflict and/or conspiracy theory.

Comments

DrJBHL

on Apr 14, 2014

Should prove to be interesting...or not so. Patent trolls/wars.

starkers

on Apr 14, 2014

Hehe, I wonder if that pattern comes in larger sizes, so I could turn one into hat to replace my tinfoil one?

I don't know if anything will ever come of all this, whether or not MS will ever call out Google and/or Android manufacturers on infringements, but I thought the story was interesting and believed it would make a good talking point for the forums.

Jafo

on Apr 14, 2014

How the heck did MS find 200 patents on IT that Apple didn't already own?

Philly0381

on Apr 14, 2014

Well this doesn't bother me at all............don't use any Android devices.

Cauldyth

on Apr 14, 2014

This isn't a new revelation. MS actually makes about $2 billion per year from Android royalties.

starkers

on Apr 14, 2014

Jafo

reply 3

How the heck did MS find 200 patents on IT that Apple didn't already own?

Heck, I don't know! Maybe MS has shares in Apple, and thus jointly owns the Android patents. Or maybe Google hid them under the table the day Jobsy came to visit.... or maybe Tim Cook isn't as quick as Jobsy was to claim other peoples hard work as his own.

Philly0381

reply 4

Well this doesn't bother me at all............don't use any Android devices.

Even if you did I don't think it would have any bearing on your usage, etc. If anything ever came of it, the issue would be fought out in the courts between the relevant parties and Android users would be unaffected.

Cauldyth

reply 5

This isn't a new revelation. MS actually makes about $2 billion per year from Android royalties.

I know it isn't a new revelation, but I figured that not everybody would know and thought it would make an interesting forum topic.

Wizard1956

on Apr 14, 2014

Interesting. Being fairly new to android devices, I didn't know this. Maybe they can merge the two together and come up with Andows or Windroid. A Next Launcher like app for Windows would be awesome.

RedneckDude

on Apr 14, 2014

Wizard1956

reply 7

A Next Launcher like app for Windows would be awesome.

Yes, it would! Never happen..

kryo

on Apr 14, 2014

starkers

reply 2

I don't know if anything will ever come of all this, whether or not MS will ever call out Google and/or Android manufacturers on infringements

The only news is the number. It's common knowledge that they're specifically licensing them for royalty revenue, and have been for several years. Revoking them (if even possible) would only hurt them.

starkers

on Apr 14, 2014

kryo

reply 9

Quoting starkers, reply 2I don't know if anything will ever come of all this, whether or not MS will ever call out Google and/or Android manufacturers on infringements

The only news is the number. It's common knowledge that they're specifically licensing them for royalty revenue, and have been for several years. Revoking them (if even possible) would only hurt them.

That's pretty much what I was thinking, that MS is sitting on a nice little nest egg and would likely want to keep the arrangement as is.

As for spicing up the OP with a bit of conflict, etc, well that was just a bit of tongue-in-cheek to make the post a little more interesting than just providing a link to a news item.

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