Samsung and Google reach global patent agreement

Samsung has announced that it had reached a global cross-licensing agreement on Sunday. The agreement covers patents owned by Samsung and Google and the current patent portfolio owned by both firms, as well as any new patents received by either company over the next five years.

Both parties said that the pact "would lead to deeper collaboration on research and development of current and future projects." Samsung's top patent executive, Seungho Ahn, said that the agreement shows that it is better to cooperate than to engage in patent disputes.

"(The deal shows) the rest of the industry that there is more to gain from cooperating than engaging in unnecessary patent disputes." -Seungho Ahn, Head of Intellectual Property, Samsung

"By working together on agreements like this, companies can reduce the potential for litigation and focus instead on innovation." -Allen Lo, deputy general counsel for patents, Google

Financial terms of the deal between Samsung and Google were not released.

source - Reuters