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Microsoft Gets Royalties from 55% of the Android Ecosystem

- By - Source : Technet

Microsoft announced yet another Android hardware vendor as a licensee.

Compal agreed to pay royalties to the software company, which is expected to rake in more than $1 billion from Android phone and tablet makers this year.

Compal is the ninth company to sign a license agreement with Microsoft and is especially significant, as Microsoft now says that it has 55 percent of Android market share under license agreements (53 percent in the U.S.). General counsel Brad Smith noted in a blog post that Microsoft has entered in 1133 license agreements over the past decade, while it spent about $4.5 billion in licensing fees that were paid to other companies.

Of course, Smith did not miss an opportunity to swipe Google: "For those who continue to protest that the smartphone patent thicket is too difficult to navigate, it's past time to wake up."

He also indicated that license agreements appear to be taking care of the litigation landscape that has turned the mobile phone market into a mess: "While lawsuits may dominate many of the headlines, these are being overtaken by the number of license agreements being signed. At this point, the fast pace of licensing is reshaping the legal landscape for smartphone patents."

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plznote 10/25/2011 1:26 AM
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55%??
That's absurd.

Parsian 10/25/2011 1:29 AM
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pure win for Microsoft. They are the smart one, they make profit while keeping relations good with others and do not participate in anti innovation tactics such as Apple.

thecapulet 10/25/2011 1:31 AM
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Microsoft has been and always be a technology world powerhouse, even if Windows were to lose all of it's market share.

They basically founded the modern software world, and anyone else who enters the market is simply building on their intellectual foundation.

reggieray 10/25/2011 1:31 AM
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Microsoft with an army of lawyers is just another patent troll with allot cash.

reggieray 10/25/2011 1:32 AM
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wintermint 10/25/2011 1:35 AM
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Harsh world - money grabbing society. If you want to plan to be at the top, expect many people trying to take your money from you or try to grab a share of the profit.

bystander 10/25/2011 1:37 AM
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reggieray :
Microsoft with an army of lawyers is just another patent troll with allot cash.



They seem to be reasonable enough to come to agreements that both sides agree with. I don't see anything wrong with that. If they didn't come to agreements, they'd likely leave themselves open to be attacked as well. They seem to be playing it smart in my opinion.

jakes69 10/25/2011 1:39 AM
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just out of curiosity, how come google have no problem paying MS but are in load of trouble with Apple?

Maybe that is what ticked off Jobs.

silver565 10/25/2011 1:41 AM
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The thing is. Microsoft are successful though. They've worked hard to get that money and secure the patent rights etc(Do I agree with it? Ofc not). But the point is, they've won

What have apple accomplished? Nothing.... suing everyone gets you no where

bystander 10/25/2011 1:51 AM
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jakes69 :
just out of curiosity, how come google have no problem paying MS but are in load of trouble with Apple?Maybe that is what ticked off Jobs.



They have no troubles because MS doesn't desire to run Google out of business. Apple is unwilling to settle. Apple does not want to settle. Apple or Jobs at least, want to run Google into the ground.

phatboe 10/25/2011 1:52 AM
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silver565 10/25/2011 1:54 AM
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I'm pretty sure google could stand up to them. Just like they do Apple.

Microsoft are clever enough to start at the table, rather than the court room

bystander 10/25/2011 1:59 AM
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phatboe :
That is totally untrue. The reason for these settlements is because no one is stupid enough to stand up to Microsoft. They know they will lose to MS and their high priced lawyers so instead of fighting they agree to MS'es high priced settlements because it's a lot cheaper than going to the courts.



How do you know this? It's not like they wanted to fight Apple either. Apple just was unwilling to settle. MS is willing.

southernshark 10/25/2011 2:02 AM
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wintermint :
Harsh world - money grabbing society. If you want to plan to be at the top, expect many people trying to take your money from you or try to grab a share of the profit.



Actually he wrote DOS. It was Apple who claimed to have invented the graphic based interface.... but they paid Bill Gates to create it.... LOL

Anonymous 10/25/2011 2:20 AM
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^ DOS was created by IBM before becoming MS-DOS. And Apple bought graphic interface from Xerox. Just sayin'.

ltdementhial 10/25/2011 2:36 AM
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reggieray :
Billy boy ripped off DOS and copied windows from Apple and Atari.




we all can spend the night here sayin who's right about who created DOS & Windows...DOS was an OS from IBM for their 16bit's IBM PC's...then Xerox came with the "Desk metaphor GUI"...that was in the end of the 70's on the 72 an DM came out for the mighty Commodore 64 and in the 84 the concept took off after steve jobs "genuine idea" of Mac OS...of course we all know the "rumor" that on the exact same day at the exact same hour the guy from PARC where making a Desk Metaphor presentation for Bill Gates in seattle and Steve Jobs in Palo Alto.

So Dos is from IBM, Microsoft turned it into MS-Dos, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates had an presentation of Desk Metaphor, Jobs launched MAC OS in 1984 and Bill Gates Windows 1 in 1985...then Jobs started cryin' around about the "ripoff" that both done not only for Xerox but from SUN also...i don't know when Atari comes into this :S?

SmileyTPB1 10/25/2011 2:57 AM
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Makes you wonder why MS is wasting so much time and money on Windows Phone when they could just me making money off of Android instead.

silver565 10/25/2011 2:59 AM
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WP7 is pretty damn good. I'm a linux kid, with a windows phone. I don't really give M$ credit for much.... but WP7? not too bad...

deanjo 10/25/2011 3:27 AM
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For those who think that Billy got DOS from IBM, you are just plain wrong. In fact IBM contracted Billy to develop it out of house. Billy got DOS (QDOS) from Seattle Computer Products and started modifying it (mostly done by MS's Bob O'Rear) to meet IBM's specifications. PC-DOS and MS-DOS were developed in parallel. IBM wrote the requirements and MS wrote and modified the code.

ginghus_khan2000 10/25/2011 3:54 AM
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This is very bad reporting. What part of Android does anybody need to licence?

bystander 10/25/2011 4:29 AM
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SmileyTPB1 :
Makes you wonder why MS is wasting so much time and money on Windows Phone when they could just me making money off of Android instead.



While they are getting royalties on 55% of the ecosystem, I doubt it's much of the total profits or nearly as much as they could be getting from their own system.

eddieroolz 10/25/2011 4:54 AM
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Let's hope Microsoft will get a 100% compliance rate soon. Their patents should be protected.

cyberkuberiah 10/25/2011 5:03 AM
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nice potent passive patent income for MS :)

hoofhearted 10/25/2011 5:19 AM
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Just think about this next time you pay for that Android phone. Some of that money is going to pay Microsoft and they did nothing to make that a better product for you.

So even if you are choosing a competing product, you are still funding/paying Microsoft. No wonder Ballmer is such a clown, because he can be.

bystander 10/25/2011 5:52 AM
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hoofhearted :
Just think about this next time you pay for that Android phone. Some of that money is going to pay Microsoft and they did nothing to make that a better product for you.So even if you are choosing a competing product, you are still funding/paying Microsoft. No wonder Ballmer is such a clown, because he can be.



I'm sure a few of those patents were inventions of theirs.

junixophobia 10/25/2011 6:15 AM
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MS have not proven that they really own the contested patent. These companies just chicken out of court cost.

I hope there will be a company who will stand up to this as it will get the ball rolling the other side... Miss the years when M$ loss a lot of patent fight against linux...

dameon51 10/25/2011 6:30 AM
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reggieray :
Billy boy ripped off DOS and copied windows from Apple and Atari.


They bought DOS and legally resold it, and, in the end, ended up paying its creation vast sums of $ anyways.

Zingam 10/25/2011 7:07 AM
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I think MS licensees Windows Phone OS for a sum of 15-20 USD. And they "license" patents to Android manufacturers for about the same amount. It's obvious extortion and nothing else. I bet they are trying to make them move to Windows Phone OS.

De5_roy 10/25/2011 7:36 AM
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i don't understand. why is microsoft getting paid for google's android? i suspect some kind of uber-lawyering at work here.

Blessedman 10/25/2011 7:51 AM
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I think MS owns the patent for the actual file system in use. I know they have said that they own a few patents that they allow linux to use FOC. I was pretty sure the file system was one of them and that is probably the easiest to prove and get money from. I could be wrong though... lol troll!

stm1185 10/25/2011 8:06 AM
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de5_roy :
i don't understand. why is microsoft getting paid for google's android? i suspect some kind of uber-lawyering at work here.



From a DT piece I was reading:
"Microsoft sits in second place with over 2,300 patents that seemingly apply to Android."