The latest company to sign a patent agreement with Microsoft is Taiwan-based manufacturer Compal Electronics. The new agreement provides coverage under Microsoft’s patent portfolio for Compal’s tablets, mobile phones and eBook readers running the Android and Chrome platforms.
Compal, rather like recent Microsoft licensee Quanta, is best known for producing devices that are sold by other big-name brands.
Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel of the Intellectual Property Group at Microsoft, said “We are pleased to have reached this agreement with Compal, one of the leaders in the original design manufacturing, or ODM, industry. Together with the license agreements signed in the past few months with Wistron and Quanta Computer, today’s agreement with Compal means more than half of the world’s ODM industry for Android and Chrome devices is now under license to Microsoft’s patent portfolio. We are proud of the continued success of our licensing program in resolving IP issues surrounding Android and Chrome.”