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5 April 2017Patents

Royalty-free Android licence launches in aid of ‘patent peace’

A cross-licence patent agreement centring on Android technology and Google applications has been launched to provide “patent peace” within the Android system.

The agreement, called Pax, allows members to grant each other royalty-free patent licences. Google and eight other companies, including Samsung and LG, have helped to launch the programme.

Google has helped develop Pax in order to provide “balanced patent solutions”.

According to a blog post on Monday, April 3 by Jamie Rosenberg, vice president, business and operations, Android and Google Play, Pax is the Latin word for “peace”.

Rosenberg said that the “community-driven clearinghouse, developed together with our Android partners”, ensures that innovation and consumer choice—not patent threats—will continue to be key drivers of the company’s Android ecosystem.

Pax is free to join and open to anyone, he said.

According to the blog, Google’s Android system has more than 400 partner manufacturers and 500 carriers who produced more than 4,000 devices last year.

Google believes that Pax will further “expand the openness” of Android for its members, promote patent peace and free up time and money for members, who can then dedicate those resources to creating new ideas.

Pax’s other members include HTC and Foxconn.

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