For a little over a year Microsoft has been extracting license fees from HTC for their use of Google’s Android operating system, on the basis that Android infringes several of Microsoft’s patents. While their claims have yet to be tested in court, Microsoft has been dangling the threat of lawsuits in front of other Android manufacturers, including Motorola and Barnes & Noble.
A few weeks ago rumours surfaced that HTC ws paying Microsoft as much as $5 per device in licensing fees, and Barnes & Noble, in a legal challenge to Microsoft’s demands, claimed Microsoft has threatened to charge the book retailer and maker of the popular Android-powered Nook Color more in patent license fees that they charge for Windows Phone 7 licenses.
Yesterday Microsoft’s Intellectual Properties division claimed another victim in the form of Taiwanese notebook and tablet manufacturer Wistron. Somewhat worryingly, the license agreement struck between the two mentions coverage of “devices running the Android or Chrome platforms”.
Although you may not have heard of Wistron, they are the third largest laptop manufacturer worldwide, shipping around 27.5 million devices in 2010. They are by no means a small company, however – like fellow Microsoft licensee HTC – does have close ties to Microsoft, which would seem to indicate Ballmer & Co. are attempting to extract license agreements from their smaller partners before potentially moving onto bigger fish.
The biggest fish of them all in terms of Android sales is Samsung, and today a report has indicated that Microsoft is looking to extract $15 per Android devices sold from the Korean electronics firm. With Samsung recently announcing they sold 3 million Galaxy S II units, that could be a hefty bill.
The potentially bigger problem here for Google is that if Microsoft is waving its patent portfolio in Chrome’s direction as well as Android’s, it could scare off manufacturers looking to use the lightweight OS in their notebook devices. Hardly a surprising move by Microsoft, given that Chrome OS is a direct shot across the bow of Windows – but it does have a slight whiff of anti-competitiveness about it.
