Microsoft and Google have agreed to dismiss all pending patent claims against each other. The agreements sees about 20 different lawsuits in Germany and the USA dropped. Patents include those related to mobile phones, video decoding and wireless networking – including the cases related to Motorola Mobility, which Google sold to Lenovo in 2014.
More than a dozen Android OEMs currently pay patent licensing fees to Microsoft; these fees were the source of the dispute between the company and Motorola Mobility. Market watchers have noted that if Google, owner of Android, is now exempt from paying such fees, companies such as Samsung, HTC and Acer may also ask a judge to dismiss their own licensing agreements. Microsoft is reported to earn about $2 billion annually from its Android patents.
