Talks that were rumored to have begun more than six months ago might finally have come to fruition, as Samsung and Microsoft have announced that they have come to terms in a settlement out of court in the patent royalty lawsuit the two have been embroiled in for almost a year now. The lawsuit was filed by Microsoft when Samsung refused to pay the Redmond giant royalties over patents used in the Korean manufacturer's Android devices, with Samsung alleging that Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia voided the need for it to pay for any patent royalties.
Both Microsoft and Samsung have announced the settlement on their respective blogs with extremely short statements. “Samsung and Microsoft are pleased to announce that they have ended their contract dispute in U.S. court as well as the ICC arbitration. Terms of the agreement are confidential.”
Royalties from manufacturers' use of Microsoft patented technologies on Android is one of the biggest sources of revenue for the company, and it remains to be seen if Microsoft will continue to charge other major OEMs now that it has settled its case with Samsung. Of course, it's possible Samsung is still paying royalties but is paying less than what Microsoft is actually demanding, but we will probably never know exactly what went down behind the scenes before the agreement was reached.
