Samsung pays Microsoft $ 15 for each Android smartphone or tablet it sells. This is how we can summarize the agreement between the two companies that they reached in 2011, which allowed Samsung to license and use software and technologies patented by Microsoft. However, Microsoft has denounced Samsung because they have stopped paying them for licenses.
An Android smartphone or tablet has a large amount of software and technologies that have at some point been patented by other companies. This means that companies are obliged to reach agreements with other companies to be able to use that software or those technologies on their smartphones or tablets. Even this means that sometimes another company is hired to manufacture the components, because in reality they are the ones who have the patents for certain software or technology. Well, Microsoft has a lot of proprietary software and technologies that are necessary for an Android smartphone or tablet. This is why they reached an agreement with Samsung whereby Samsung could license and use up to 310 software and technology patents from Microsoft, as long as it paid $ 15 for each Android smartphone or tablet sold.
However, now Microsoft has denounced Samsung because they have stopped paying them licenses. In fact, Microsoft not only requires the payment of the licenses, but now also requires the payment of interest that would be generated because Samsung would not have paid the corresponding licenses to Microsoft when it owed.
We know little else at this time about the legal conflict in which the two companies will face. It is possible that both Microsoft and Samsung want to reach an agreement to finalize the matter to go to trial, but if not, we can already hope that it will be another of the most important legal cases in the world of technology, at the level of the famous Samsung's case against Apple that is still alive today.
