Google, LG sign 10-year patent cross-licensing agreement to make their alliance even stronger
Alexandra BurlacuLG and Google have just entered a 10-year patent licensing agreement, which will enable cross-licensing of all existing patents between the two companies.
Not only will Google and LG share existing patents, but they will also share any patent that comes out from each company for the next decade.
In today's highly-competitive tech market full of patent infringement lawsuits and legal battles spanning globally between the world's largest corporations, such alliances make sense and should benefit all parties involved.
According to LG, the agreement it just struck with Google covers a "broad range" of technologies and other products. Simply put, the two companies will share ideas with each other, and cross-license all of their patents.
"We're pleased to enter into this agreement with a leading global technology company like LG. By working together on cross-licenses like this, companies can focus on bringing great products and services to consumers around the world," Allen Lo, deputy general counsel for patents at Google, states in the press release LG issued on Wednesday, Nov. 5.
"LG values its relationship with Google, and this agreement underscores both companies' commitment to developing new products and technologies that enhance consumers' lives," adds J.H. Lee, executive vice president and head of LG's Intellectual Property Center.
The two companies further point out that this new cross-licensing agreement builds on the strong and long-standing alliance between Google and LG Electronics.
The relationship between the two companies has indeed proved to be strong over the years, and LG is a very important partner to Google. LG made highly-successful Nexus devices for Google, and it also saw a significant rise on the market with its own smartphones. Shipments of LG smartphones increased as much as 39 percent year-on-year and reached 16.8 million units in the third quarter of this year, and this achievement only makes LG more valuable to Google and the Android market.
The company's flagship LG G3 reportedly had a big role in boosting smartphone sales, and is widely considered one of the best Android smartphones currently available on the market. LG has previously built Nexus smartphones based on its own handsets, but this year the Nexus 6 came from Motorola instead of LG. Nevertheless, this new cross-licensing patent agreement bolsters the alliance between Google and LG and hints at great things to come from the two companies.
Google signed a similar agreement with Samsung back in January of this year, and the new deal with LG shows Google's commitment to keep strong alliances with its key Android partners.
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