What? You didn’t think Microsoft would suddenly have morals or ethics and stop abusing the patent system like they do against Android, did you? If anything they seem to be working hard to make sure they aren’t missing anyone.
Huawei is next on their list, as they seem to be discussing this issue. Of course that means Microsoft is softly suggesting to them that if they don’t pay up, they’ll be faced with a lawsuit. None of the companies involved are going to use Microsoft’s so called patents, but Microsoft is forcing them to pay up anyway, even if they use similar technology.
That happens because the current patent system allows for that to happen, and Microsoft is shamelessly taking full advantage of it. Some would say that if Microsoft is allowed to do this by the law then they should do it, as if it was almost their obligation to do it.
I think that’s ridiculous. Nobody forces Microsoft’s hand to go after these companies. It’s pure greed, and the desire to see the competition destroyed through any means necessary. Google has a lot of search related patents, too, but you don’t see them being “forced” to go after other companies who make their own search engines that are very similar to Google’s search engine.
Microsoft might win a few cents and dollars here, because in the end it’s still only a few tens of millions of dollars, which is peanuts compared to the many billions they make off their Windows OS. But Microsoft would definitely want to make money from their mobile OS rather than make a few meager millions from Android licensing.
But the truth is WP7 simply hasn’t taken off, and I don’t think Nokia nor any other company can really help it here. It’s simply too late to the game, and the market forces are working against it. In almost all industries there are only 2 major players, and when those players have been “decided” by the market, it stays that way for a decade or two.
So WP7 is in a very weak position right now, and it doesn’t look good at all for Microsoft. As Android keeps evolving, it will keep replacing the alleged “infringements”, and once the most important ones are removed, the manufacturers can stop paying Microsoft or even take them to Court, knowing that they will lose with their much weaker patents.