Microsoft and Japan-based Brother Industries have signed a cross-licensing agreement covering multifunction products, printers, and Linux-based embedded devices.
The deal includes Microsoft’s patents for Brother’s current and future product lines, while Microsoft will gain access to Brother’s patents for its Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, and other IT product lines. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Since the launch of its IP licensing program in December 2003, Microsoft has signed more than 500 licensing agreements. It has similar patent cross-licensing agreements with Kenwood, Alpine Electronics, Fuji Xerox, LG Electronics, NEC, Nikon, Nortel Networks, Novell, Olympus, Onkyo, Samsung Electronics, Seiko Epson, and Pioneer.
David Kaefer, general manager of intellectual property and licensing at Microsoft, said: We believe that intellectual property licensing is an empowering way to bring innovation to the IT ecosystem. Our partners and customers continue to demand greater collaboration as they run increasingly diverse IT environments using technology and solutions that rely on both proprietary and open source code, which calls for sensible business arrangements between IT leaders.
