They already have a long cooperative relationship in place, so this is not surprising move at all. They both claim that this should be a model for many tech firms, an alternative to patent litigation. As they are involved with many other companies in litigation, I feel that they are referring to them when making this statement.
Samsung and Google own a lot of patents, but they weren't able to gain much leverage from those patents to fight against Apple and Microsoft. They, however, lost many patent wars with them. So this could mean like a decoy for them to show to other companies of FRAND demands. It's however stated that this deal wouldn't affect other companies because they already know that they are allies.
As long as Samsung makes Android phones, they wouldn't need to worry about Google. But if they start to make devices on different OS, Google may start to start litigation with them.
Also I found this statement interesting. They stated that "It's not just about making the enforcers look bad but also about giving the impression of being willing licensees"(FossPatents). It seems evident that what they mean by this is that they are willing to go in as ally if other companies are willing.
Another claim that was backed up was through this statement, "Prior to this announcement, the last Google patent license agreement with another major industry player that was announced was a deal with Yahoo that cleared the path for Google's IPO about a decade ago"(FossPatents).
http://www.fosspatents.com/2014/01/samsungs-patent-deal-with-google.html
I feel it's dubious that Google would actually go to war with Samsung if Samsung started to produce other devices other than Android phones. I feel the economic terms between these two are big enough for both Google and Samsung to think that "we better to careful about what we do so we don't not piss each other off".
ReplyDeleteBut I do agree that it's a fragile relationship formed upon economic interests. Once Samsung stops using the Android platform (if that ever happens), Google would immediately treats Samsung as a rival.