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Google and Verizon strike a deal to use each other's patents
Google has been forging patent deals left and right with smartphone manufacturers to both get technology and fend off lawsuits, and now it's taking a similar approach with American carriers. The search firm has reached a deal with Verizon that gives both sides access to patents covering a "broad range of products." Neither side is saying what those products are, but they're clear that this is a hedge against patent trolls -- they'll have more ammunition the next time someone files a lawsuit over some dodgy intellectual property claims.
Nintendo and Philips settle their fight over motion patents
Philips made more than a few gamers nervous when it sued Nintendo over motion control patents back in the spring, but all that's water under the bridge as of today. The two companies have reached a truce that has Philips dropping its lawsuits in return for a patent cross-licensing deal. Neither firm is discussing the terms of the settlement, although Nintendo was clearly under the gun here -- it risked having to stop console sales during a US trial, which would have wrecked its already precarious finances. Regardless of who came out on top, it's safe to say that you won't have trouble picking up a Wii U in the near future.
Microsoft and Casio enter cross licensing agreement, world wonders if Casio actually makes Linux-based devices
If you happen to be making devices that run on Linux -- of which Android is a subset -- odds are pretty good that you'll be getting a phone call from Redmond at some point. And that's just what happened to Casio, who's joining existing licensees TomTom and Amazon in signing a cross license agreement with Microsoft for patents pertaining to the Tux-approved OS. Covering Linux on "certain Casio devices," the joint statement was equally vague about how many greenbacks exchanged hands, simply stating: "[both] parties acknowledge that Microsoft is being compensated by Casio." There ain't much more to it, but folks looking to humor themselves can do so after the break.
Coalition of companies creates WebM Community Cross License initiative
When Google unveiled its WebM open source media format and declared it to be the one codec to rule all others, there were those who decried its usefulness and felt that H.264 should inherit the earth. WebM's power converted some of those staunch detractors, and to rally more to the VP8 / Vorbis cause, 17 companies have now formed the WebM Community Cross-License (CCL) initiative by inter-mingling their WebM-related IP resources. The initiative was founded so that all may use El Goog's preferred multimedia codec free from the threat of patent litigation, and the CCL superfriends will welcome more members to bolster their legal might -- but those wishing to join must grant a royalty-free license to any of their patents that cover WebM technology. A passion for streamlining web standards and a willingness to spread the word about WebM couldn't hurt, either -- new formats don't sell themselves, y'know.
Nokia, Motorola establish cross-licensing pact for 4G tech
No shortage of lawsuits going around in the industry as we come up on the holidays -- you know, peace, happiness, the season of giving and all that -- but one place where you won't find much public animosity (for the moment, anyway) is between Schaumburg and Espoo. That's right: Motorola and Nokia have just agreed to a cross-licensing arrangement that will give both companies access to each others' 4G patent portfolios, with LTE, LTE Advanced, and WiMAX all specifically called out as being affected. It's literally impossible to develop 4G devices without navigating a nightmarish jungle of patents and royalties, so whenever an agreement like this goes down, we put on our optimism hats and hope that it'll mean faster times to market for devices and infrastructure. Follow the break for Moto's press release.
Pixel Qi and OLPC to share all current and future screen tech
Our man Nicholas Negroponte was certainly excited about pushing the state of the art forward with future versions of the OLPC when we hosted him on The Engadget Show earlier this month, and now he's got one more tool to help make that happen: the OLPC Foundation and Pixel Qi just signed a permanent and free cross-license on a slew of next-generation screen technology patents, including Pixel Qi's sweet dual-mode displays. If you're recall, Pixel Qi's Mary Lou Jepson actually developed part of the 3Qi screen tech while at OLPC, so there was some mild confusion over who owned what -- but the two organizations have solved that problem by cross-licensing all future and current IP covering multi-mode screens. See, it's easy for two tech companies to get along... especially when one is actually a charity that's not at all concerned with profits. Super simple. So -- let's get working on that OLPC XO-3, shall we?
Microsoft and Amazon announce open-source patent agreement, trinkets in exchange for air kisses
Mention "Microsoft" and "open-source" in the same breath and you're guaranteed to create a suspicion interrupt within the Linux community. Toss in "patent agreement" and out come the irate spokesmen. So imagine the response to the announcement that Microsoft and Amazon have reached a cross-patent agreement that gives Amazon the right to use open-source software in its Kindle in exchange for an undisclosed tithe to Redmond. Microsoft also gains rights to Amazon's patent portfolio. The move prompted Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation, to claim that Microsoft appears to be trying to, "create uncertainty around Linux." Mind you, this isn't just tin-foil worry from the wire colander collective, Microsoft claims that free and open-source software violates some 235 Microsoft patents. A big enough stick to coax a number of companies -- like Novell, Linspire, Xandros, Apple, and HP -- into striking agreements with Microsoft or risk litigation as was the case with TomTom. Agreements that Canonical's Mark Shuttelworth called, "Trinkets in exchange for air kisses," or "patent terrorism" if you prefer Sun Microsystems' take.
Intel shells out $1.25 billion to settle all AMD litigation
Intel sure sells a lot of chips, but man -- it sure blows a lot of that profit on lawyers. Just months after it got nailed with a $1.45 billion fine from the EU in an AMD antitrust case, nearly two years after AMD hit Intel with another antitrust probe and nearly 1.5 years after the FTC sparked up an investigation of its own, Intel has finally decided to pony up in order to rid itself of one of those back-riding monkeys. In an admittedly brief joint announcement released simultaneously by both firms today, Intel has agreed to cough up a whopping $1.25 billion in order to settle "all antitrust and IP disputes" with AMD. In fact, the pair went so far as to say the following: "While the relationship between the two companies has been difficult in the past, this agreement ends the legal disputes and enables the companies to focus all of our efforts on product innovation and development." Aside from AMD's coffers filling up with cash, the agreement also gives both firms patent rights from a new 5-year cross license agreement. Of course, we're betting that this isn't the end of this exceptionally bitter rivalry, and we highly doubt Intel wrote a check this large while grinning from ear-to-ear. That said, we're eager to see what AMD does with its newfound cheddar, and if we had our druthers, we'd sit back and watch it invest heavily into beating Intel to the punch with its next few platforms.
Toshiba and Samsung to cross-license NAND rights: more flash for all!
While Toshiba (and SanDisk) and Samsung might be battling it out in the press for the world's fastest and highest-density NAND, they're actually good buddies behind closed doors. In fact, they've been partners in the Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology Corporation for years. Today they announced a deal to cross-license the rights to respectively produce, market, and sell Samsung's OneNAND and Toshiba's LBA-NAND memory chips. Each plans to release products next year based on the newly licensed technology of the other. The move should broaden the choice of suppliers to OEMs in a day where multi-sourcing reigns supreme. Yes, that's a good thing for us consumers.[Via DigiTimes]
