This was bound to happen, as Google and Samsung have signed a “global patent cross-license agreement” that covers the companies’ existing patents and future ones over the next decade. According to Samsung’s official blog statement released Sunday, Google and Samsung said the agreement covers “a broad range of technologies and business areas” without drilling down.
Allen Lo, Google’s deputy general counsel for patents, said in the statement that Such a partnership on agreements like this, companies can reduce the potential for litigation and focus instead on innovation.
Samsung, is no stranger to Apple’s legal disputes, especially over mobile patents for several years now. In the recent lawsuit, Samsung was ordered to pay about $930 million in damages in late November last year.
Since Samsung’s smartphones and tablets are always loaded with Google’s Android OS; which are in direct competition with Apple’s iPhones and iPads, which run the company’s iOS operating software. The two companies have thought it wise that gaining access to each other’s patent portfolios, Google and Samsung expect to engage in “deeper collaboration on research and development” of existing and future products and technologies.
