Google has entered into a patent cross-licensing agreement with Verizon, following similar agreements with Cisco, Samsung, and LG. The agreement will not grant either party access to the other’s patents, but will prohibit both parties from filing lawsuits against each other over patent infringements of existing patents as well as patents obtained over the next five years, covering a wide range of products and technologies.<\/p>\n
Google’s motivation for the agreement may relate to its Google Fiber initiative, given its expansion into the Internet Service Provider (ISP) domain. Google plans to launch Google Fiber into 34 cities, none of which are Verizon FiOS markets. Were Google to launch as an ISP across all 34 markets, it would face competition from major ISPs including AT&T, Comcast, Cox Communications, and Time Warner Cable, but not from Verizon.<\/p>\n
Verizon, on the other hand, is understood to be seeking protection for its targeted advertising business through the arrangement. Kirk Dailey, Head of Patent Transactions at Google, commented on the agreement: “This cross licence (agreement) allows both companies to focus on delivering great products and services to consumers around the world.” He added: “We’re pleased to enter into this agreement with an industry leader like Verizon, and we welcome discussions with any company interested in a similar arrangement.”<\/p>\n
In a published statement, Verizon described the agreement as a pact that will reduce the number of patents exposed to frivolous patent litigation. Verizon also noted that the cross-licensing arrangement would provide protection against the “innovation tax” often collected by patent trolls.<\/p>\n
In 2013, over 6,000 lawsuits were filed, a majority by patent trolls. The immediate effects of the Google-Verizon agreement may not be visible in the short term, but both parties stand to benefit from the arrangement in the long run as protection against patent abuse.<\/p>\n
This article is for general information and does not constitute legal advice. Readers should consult a qualified attorney before acting on any matter discussed here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Google and Verizon have entered a five-year patent licensing agreement to prevent litigation over patent infringements. The deal aims to reduce exposure to patent trolls and support innovation across various technologies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":39,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,14],"tags":[6888,261,12810,158,1077,5472,531],"class_list":["post-17687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-intellectual-property","category-patents","tag-cross-licensing","tag-google","tag-patent-licensing-agreement","tag-patent-litigation","tag-patent-trolls","tag-technology-law","tag-verizon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17687"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149709,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17687\/revisions\/149709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}