Motorola and RIM settle patent dispute with a good old cross-licensing deal
We always like to hear of companies burying the hatchet (and the lawyers with it, if at all possible), and our latest source of good vibes are two North American phone makers that have been at each other's throats over patents since early 2008. Motorola and RIM had a previous intellectual property-sharing deal that expired at the end of '07 and with the companies unable to come to a suitable extension agreement, it all spiraled out into a big and silly legal discord. That has at long last been settled now, with RIM paying a one-off fee and regular royalties, as well as licensing some of its own patent catalog out to Moto, in exchange for using the Americans' knowhow in WiFi and other areas. All in all, an inevitable conclusion to an unnecessarily legalized negotiation. Now how about both you guys get back to building us those QWERTY sliders and 2GHz Androids?
