Microsoft and Samsung withdraw swords in patent duel

Samsung and Microsoft have agreed to settle their dispute over patent licensing related to the Android operating system, according to a statement from both companies.

The settlement will bring to a close a lawsuit that software company Microsoft brought against Samsung last year, as well as a counterclaim filed by Samsung.

In a joint statement posted yesterday (February 10), the companies said: “Samsung and Microsoft are pleased to announce that they have ended their contract dispute in US court, as well as the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration. Terms of the agreement are confidential.”

In the lawsuit, filed by Microsoft at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York in August last year, the company claimed that South-Korea based Samsung had breached a contract agreement covering royalty payments for patents.

As part of a cross-licensing deal, signed in 2011, Samsung had agreed to pay Microsoft royalties for any of its phones or tablets running the Android platform.

But after Microsoft agreed to acquire Nokia’s mobile handset division in 2013, Samsung allegedly stopped honouring the agreement. Samsung claimed that Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia violated the agreement in “various” ways.

Microsoft had claimed in the lawsuit that Samsung still owed it $6.9 million in interest from the delayed payment of royalties.

The settlement also ends the arbitration that Samsung brought at the Hong Kong office of the ICC, which was related to the same dispute.