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‘licensing’ Stories

Netflix makes content-licensing deal with Turner and Warner Bros.

, Jan 14th 2013 Discuss [0]

Netflix customers in the US will soon get a host of new shows coming their way, thanks to a content-licensing agreement between Netflix and two content providers, Turner Broadcasting and Warner Bros. Television Group. The deal means that tons of new shows from Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, TNT, and more, will be making their way to the streaming service as soon as late March. Read The Full Story

HTC signs up for the Apple tax: $6-8 per Android phone

, Nov 12th 2012 Discuss [0]

It would appear that HTC is now set up to pay two giant companies for the rights to use their patents rather than face their legal wrath: their newest being Apple for $6-8 USD a phone. The other company HTC is into for cash-per-device is Microsoft, revealed all the way back in 2010 as an industry changing agreement for $5 USD a phone. The difference between that fee and this are small for HTC and for Apple and Microsoft in the end, but for this one fact: it does still appear that Microsoft makes more from Android-carrying device patent license fees than it does from its own Windows Phone platform – though that may change in the oncoming Windows Phone 8 season.

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RIM and Microsoft strike up a licensing deal for exFAT

, Sep 18th 2012 Discuss [0]

Struggling BlackBerry platform holder RIM announced today that it has reached a licensing deal with Microsoft, but instead of RIM licensing out its tech like CEO Thorsten Heins has suggested many times in the past, RIM is the one paying out the licensing fee this time around. The deal gives RIM access to Microsoft's Extended File Allocation Table (exFAT) technology, a system that allows for the easy transfer of large files between PCs and other devices like smartphones. Read The Full Story

Apple and Motorola working on licensing deal in Germany

, Aug 28th 2012 Discuss [0]

Apple and Motorola have apparently started discussing a licensing deal for some of Motorola's standard-essential patents in Germany. FOSS Patents reports that Motorola announced the work-in-progress deal last night, though the two have yet to agree on the price that Apple will pay for licensing. As many of you already know, Motorola and its new parent company Google have taken Apple to court, attempting to get a number of iDevices banned for patent infringement. Read The Full Story

Apple offered licensing deal to Samsung, wanted $30 per phone

, Aug 11th 2012 Discuss [0]

Apple and Samsung may currently be duking it out in the court room, but a freshly-surfaced Apple presentation from 2010 shows that the iPhone maker tried to strike a licensing deal with Samsung long before the jury became involved. Apple, as many of you already know, is taking Samsung to court over allegedly copying the iPhone in its own devices, but this new presentation shows that Apple tried to resolve the dispute by offering to license its patents to Samsung. Given the fact that Apple is currently suing Samsung for $2.5 billion, it seems that negotiations didn't go so well. Read The Full Story

Google Fiber signs multi-year patent deal with Rovi for TV service

, Aug 2nd 2012 Discuss [0]

Google and Rovi Corporation have announced a new patent licensing deal that will help Google offer a more complete fiber TV service. Google Fiber's TV service was announced last week as a part of its new fiber Internet offerings, and thanks to this new deal with Rovi, Google will have access to the company's "interactive program guide patent portfolio" for set-top boxes. The announcement says that these patents apply to mobile and online platforms as well, so that's something to keep an eye on. Read The Full Story

Microsoft patent program grabs Amdocs mobile billing

, Jul 24th 2012 Discuss [0]

This week Microsoft has made an agreement with yet another group in their IP Collaboration system in which rather than getting sued by the giant, groups agree to pay a fee for utilizing technology Microsoft has patented. The Amdocs group is the business working with Microsoft today, they being best known for their software and services for billion and customer support for telecommunications groups such as T-Mobile, Comcast, Vodafone, DirecTV, and more. This agreement covers Amdocs' use of Linux-based servers in its data centers. Read The Full Story

Microsoft claims collecting royalties on 70% of all Android devices

, Jul 9th 2012 Discuss [0]

Two more Android tablet makers will now have to pay Microsoft a royalty on their products or risk winding up in court. Aluratek and Coby Electronics are the latest companies to be added to Microsoft's ever growing patent-licensing list, with Microsoft saying that it now collects royalties on 70% of Android-based devices. Read The Full Story

Microsoft Android patent hunting hits Pegatron

, Apr 25th 2012 Discuss [2]

The group known as Pegatron Corp. have become the next in a line of companies creating hardware based around Android and Chrome OS to have signed a patent agreement with Microsoft. It's been some weeks since we heard the last case of this happening, but what each of these cases have amounted to is the same as what's going on here: Microsoft owns a gigantic batch of patents, many of which cover devices whose functionality lends itself to Android. In this case, both Android and Chrome devices made by Pegatron might otherwise have fallen under Microsoft's lawsuit umbrella unless Pegatron made an agreement with Microsoft like they're doing here to give them cash per unit sold. Read The Full Story

Corbis GreenLight Music launches

, Mar 7th 2012 Discuss [0]

Back in 1989, Bill Gates founded Corbis for licensing digital images to other companies for different uses. The company has now expanded into licensing music with the launch of GreenLight Music. The new music offering already has some of the biggest labels in the world signed up including EMI, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Universal and Warner. Read The Full Story