As a result of Samsung's non-compliance of its agreement with Microsoft, the software giant has filed a patent-royalty suit against Samsung.
Microsoft, the biggest software company, is suing the world leader in smartphone business, Samsung ,for breaching its contract involving Android patent royalties. The complaint was filed in the US District Court in the Southern District of New York, Friday, after months of efforts to settle the dispute out of court. The Redmond-based software giant is seeking unpaid interest from Samsung for withholding patent royalties.
Microsoft's Deputy General Counsel David Howard explained the nature of the complaint in an official blog post, Friday. According to the blog post, Samsung doesn't think the contract between the two tech giants is valid after Microsoft announced Nokia Devices and Services business acquisition in September last year.
"We don't take lightly filing a legal action, especially against a company with which we've enjoyed a long and productive partnership," Howard wrote. "Unfortunately, even partners sometimes disagree. After spending months trying to resolve our disagreement, Samsung has made clear in a series of letters and discussions that we have a fundamental disagreement as to the meaning of our contract."
Microsoft did not specify the monetary recovery it was seeking from Samsung as a result of late payment. But the software giant makes a lot of cash, about $2 billion annually, from Android device makers such as Samsung and HTC, the Wall Street Journal reports. Microsoft has patents of various technologies currently used in Android smartphones, such as displaying multiple tabs in a web browser.
The complaint filed by Microsoft roots from a patent cross-licensing agreement struck with Samsung in 2011. As a result, Samsung enjoyed immense success, making it the world's largest smartphone company. Howard also noted that Samsung shipped 82 million Android smartphones when it signed the legal bond with Microsoft in 2011 and the numbers rose significantly. Three years later, the Korean tech giant shipped 314 million Android smartphones.
In response to the complaint, Samsung said the company "will review the complaint in detail and determine appropriate measures in response," according to Re/Code.
