Coby, Aluratek sign licensing agreements with Microsoft

Microsoft is making some extra dough off its patent portfolio thanks to two new agreements with two leading consumer electronics brands, Coby Electronics and Aluratek.

Both agreements cover products made by these manufacturers that are running Google's Android or Chrome platforms.

Specific financial details and amounts have not been disclosed, but Microsoft will receive royalties from both parties.

Other details were minimal, and executives from both Coby and Aluratek expressed that they were pleased to take part in a licensing program in resolving IP issues surrounding Android and Chrome.

Microsoft launched its IP licensing program in December 2003. Since then, the Redmond, Wash.-based company has inked 1,100 licensing deals for partners and competitors alike to access its sizable patent portfolio.

Microsoft's patent library has come into the news a lot in the last few months. Most notably, AOL closed its mega patent deal with Microsoft in June, which paid up $1.056 billion for a portfolio filled with more than 800 patents.

The two tech companies first announced the deal back in early April -- only for Microsoft to then pull a switcheroo and sell more than 600 of the acquired patents to Facebook for $550 million.

In other Microsoft news, HP announced earlier on Monday that it was ramping up its partnership concerning the Microsoft Lync enterprise unified communications platform to roll out services for SMB channels.

This item first appeared on ZDNet's Between the Lines blog under the headline "Microsoft inks new patent deals with Coby, Aluratek."