Samsung Electronics signed with Google an agreement that cross-licensed their patents. This reduces the risk of any legal disputes that can be costly over the rights of intellectual property. The signing of the agreement likely will foster a better collaboration between the two companies.
Samsung, based in Seoul, South Korea, said on Monday that the agreement covered patents to be filed over the upcoming 10 years along with existing ones. No financial terms were released.
Google’s deputy general counsel, Allen Lo, said that the new deal allows both companies to lower the potential of litigation and focus on new innovation.
The agreement also means there is a much higher possibility that Samsung will take part in the key projects of Google as a partner with hardware, said one analyst in South Korea.
Some projects the analyst said that could be worked on in collaboration include PCs that are wearable, which can connect to everyday objects like wireless networks to glasses, and the self driving cars of Google as products which Samsung can join forces with the tech giant Google.
Samsung is the largest maker in the world of consumer electronics like televisions and smartphones and key components in high tech such as the memory chips used in PCs and mobile phones.
Google is the largest search company in the world and the maker of the most used operating system for mobile devices, the Android. It has been moving to purchase hardware manufacturers like Nest Labs and Motorola Mobility.
High-tech companies are known to use litigation as a means of stopping rivals from using a patent without receiving permission. However, many of those disputes end up outside of court with agreements of cross licensing.
Samsung, the maker of Galaxy devices that operate on the Android platform, is also in legal battles with rival Apple. The CEOs of Apple and Samsung have a scheduled meeting for February to make an attempt to settle some of the disputes per the request of courts in the U.S.
