Microsoft and LGE enter agreement

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(LGE) have entered into a patent cross-license agreement to further the development of the companies' current and future product lines.

Through the agreement, LGE will be able to use Microsoft-patented innovations in its products, including Linux-based embedded devices. Microsoft will have access to LGE's patents and will license other patents developed by LGE that are now owned by business solutions provider MicroConnect Group.

The specific financial terms of the agreement are confidential, but the parties are disclosing that Microsoft will be making a net balancing payment to LGE and MicroConnect for patents related to operating systems and computer systems. LGE will be making ongoing payments to Microsoft for the value of Microsoft patents as they relate to Linux-based embedded devices that LGE produces.

‘We believe that the license arrangement with Microsoft provides appropriate recognition of the value of LGE's computer system-related patents, which includes patents directed to computer architecture utilised in game consoles and other products,’ said Jeong Hwan Lee, executive vice president of the Intellectual Property Centre at LGE. ‘We believe in the importance of respecting the IP rights of others and that patent collaboration and protection is a best business practice the whole industry should be engaged in.’

‘This agreement is another example of how Microsoft is continuing to build bridges with others in the industry through intellectual property licensing," added Horacio Gutierrez, vice president, Intellectual Property and Licensing at Microsoft.

In the past 12 months, Microsoft has announced similar agreements with companies such as Fuji Xerox, NEC Corporation, Nortel Networks and Samsung to help build bridges between the world's leading computer hardware, software and telecommunications solutions providers.