Pegatron jumps into Microsoft's patent-licensing pool
Add another patent-licensee to the group of Android/Chrome-based device makers that Microsoft is convincing to pay for its IP.
Microsoft has signed up Pegatron to license undisclosed Microsoft patents so as not to run afoul of Redmond with its Android and Chrome based e-readers, tablets, and smartphones.
Pegatron is paying Microsoft an undisclosed amount as part of the deal. No further information about the terms of the agreement are being shared, according to Microsoft.
Microsoft is now touting the fact it has licensed four of the top five Taiwanese original design manufacturers (ODMs) as part of its patent-licensing strategy. "More than 70 percent of all U.S. Android devices are covered under the company's portfolio," according to Microsoft officials speaking about the April 25 news.
Microsoft now has more than a dozen patent-licensing deals with vendors providing Android and Chrome OS-based devices , almost all (if not all) of which involve those vendors agreeing to pay Microsoft licensing fees for undisclosed Microsoft patents upon which Microsoft officials have said that Android and Chrome OS potentially infringe. Other Android/Chrome OS licensees of Microsoft's patents include OEMs and ODMs Compal, HTC, Samsung, Quanta, Wistron and LG.
Barnes & Noble and Motorola Mobility are both continuing to fight against licensing Microsoft patents to cover Android-based devices that they sell.
Pegatron isn't only an Android/Chrome device vendor. It also has designed Windows 7-based slates.
This story originally posted as "Microsoft adds Pegatron to its patent-licensing stable" on ZDNet's All About Microsoft.