Microsoft and Kyocera settle dispute over Android patents, agree to cross-licensing
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet :
Context & Ripple Effects
The cross-licensing deal closes out the Android patent suit Microsoft filed against Kyocera just four months ago, and it follows the same script Microsoft ran earlier that year when it settled its contract dispute with Samsung over Android patent payments. Between those settlements and the $23 million VirnetX payout in late 2014, 2015 was shaping up as a year of litigation de-escalation for Microsoft's patent portfolio.
For Kyocera, an Android device maker, the settlement converts an infringement claim into a licensing relationship — the outcome Microsoft has repeatedly sought rather than prolonged court fights.
First-order effects
- Kyocera gets legal certainty for its Android devices without an ongoing infringement judgment hanging over them, while Microsoft turns an enforcement action into recurring licensing leverage instead of a courtroom bet.
Second-order effects
- Other Android OEMs watching the Kyocera case see the playbook confirmed: Microsoft files suit, then offers cross-licensing as the exit — making early license negotiations cheaper than being sued first.
Third-order effects
- If this sue-then-settle pattern keeps resolving into cross-licenses, it points toward patent portfolios functioning as negotiated revenue streams across the Android ecosystem — a direction Microsoft formalized years later by joining the Open Invention Network and cross-licensing tens of thousands of patents.
The trend: Microsoft is shifting from litigating its patent portfolio against Android makers to monetizing it through cross-licensing deals.