Microsoft and Samsung have finally come to an agreement over royalty payments. Samsung had previously licensed patents from Microsoft, but later refused to pay up after Microsoft bought Nokia’s device division. It looks like all that is cleared up now, which raises an interesting question.
The issue had originally stemmed from several patents Samsung was licensing from Microsoft. The South Korean company halted payments as it protested against Redmond buying Nokia’s devices division. While it later did provide some remuneration, it did so without paying any interest; which lead to the lawsuit in the first place.
No details about the settlement have been provided from either company, which makes it unclear about who had to give the most ground. It is unlikely that Microsoft managed to recover the US$1 billion it was asking for, but it could be likely that Samsung ended up paying more than it was hoping.
More importantly, this could open a potential path of Samsung to begin making Windows Phone devices once again. A previous news report indicated that this could happen if the two companies could settle this particular spot of legal trouble. Whether Samsung will experiment with Windows mobile devices to reduce its reliance on Android remains a question; although it is a very interesting question indeed.
