Today, Microsoft filed a lawsuit against Samsung Electronics in the US, but unlike Apple, it does not demand any compensation from it. Instead, it is asking the court to pressurize Samsung and force it to pay Microsoft more for the use of the patents than stated in the agreement between the two companies, which was reached back in 2011. The two companies entered into an agreement in 2011 to share the patents, as Microsoft owns a large number of patents related to the production of devices with the system Android.
The problem, according to Microsoft, is that Samsung's smartphone sales have quadrupled since the companies struck a deal, giving Samsung a dominant position in the mobile market. In 2011, when the deal was made, Samsung sold 82 million smartphones, while this year it looks like Samsung has sold around 314 million devices. Microsoft therefore thinks that Samsung could start paying more than it has been paying as part of the agreement.
According to David Howard, the trial would not have happened if Samsung had not tried to withdraw from the agreement. Samsung cites Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia as the reason for withdrawing from the agreement. Precisely because of this, the agreement should no longer be valid: "We do not like to file criminal charges, especially against a company with whom we have enjoyed a long and productive partnership. Unfortunately, even partners sometimes disagree. After spending months resolving our disagreements, Samsung has made it clear in a series of letters and negotiations that our agreement has lost its meaning." said David Howard, corporate vice president and deputy general manager of Microsoft.
*Source: Microsoft
