NewsMicrosoft Lobs Patent Grenade at Google's Android

Microsoft Lobs Patent Grenade at Google’s Android

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On Wednesday, Microsoft launched another attack against Linux by announcing a patent agreement with phone maker HTC that provides “broad coverage” for HTC devices running Google’s open source Android.

The Register‘s Gavin Clarke reported, “Ironically, Microsoft stands to actually make a profit from Linux. HTC will pay Microsoft royalties for each phone it ships with Google’s renegade operating system.”

This latest deal adds HTC to the growing list of companies who’ve struck patent agreements with Microsoft.

“Amazon, Novell, Linspire, TurboLinux, and Xandros,” Clarke said, “have all signed deals with Microsoft to protect themselves and their users against litigation over possible violations of Microsoft’s patents by Linux. As with HTC, no patents were named.”

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