Samsung and Microsoft come to terms over billion dollar license fee dispute

Microsoft has long been the recipient of license fees for patents related to each and every Android device sold. Samsung has long been the number one seller of Android devices sold around the globe, but have been refusing to pay said licensing fees for a while now.

This dispute hit the courts last year, with Microsoft looking to sue for damages estimated to be in excess of $1 billion. As most major cases go, many months have passed with no results, and little progress, until today. The two companies have come to terms in a private arrangement.

While the exact terms have not been disclosed, and there is a good chance they never will be, both companies took to their own blogs to post the same message:

“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.” – Samsung’s Jaewan Chi, Executive Vice President and Global Legal Affairs & Compliance Team and Microsoft’s David Howard, Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel.

It would be great to see what the terms of this agreement are. More importantly, we are eager to see what impact this will have for all of the other Android device manufacturers out there still paying their dues.

What do you think, for how long should Microsoft be able to collect license fees for patents relating to Android technology?