Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦) yesterday became the third Taiwanese notebook computer contract maker to sign a patent licensing deal with Microsoft Corp to use Android or Chrome operating systems (OS).
The deal requires Compal, the world’s second-largest laptop contract maker, to pay the software giant an undisclosed amount of royalties for each tablet, mobile phone, e-reader or other consumer devices it produces that run either of the systems.
Compal is following in the footsteps of Wistron Corp (緯創), which signed the licensing agreement with Microsoft on July 5, and Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), which inked a similar deal on Oct. 13
“Together with the license agreements signed in the past few months with Wistron and Quanta, the agreement with Compal means more than half of the world’s ODM [original design manufacturing] industry for Android and Chrome devices is now under license to Microsoft’s patent portfolio,” Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel of Microsoft’s intellectual property group, said in a statement.
“We are proud of the continued success of our licensing program in resolving IP [intellectual property] issues surrounding Android and Chrome,” Gutierrez said.
Other firms that have agreed to Microsoft’s licensing terms include Taiwan’s HTC Corp (宏達電) and Acer Inc (宏碁), South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co, ViewSonic Corp and Velocity Micro Inc of the US and Japan’s Onkyo Corp.
Android and Chrome are two open platforms developed by Google Inc, but Microsoft has asserted that they infringe on its patents and demanded device makers pay royalties when using them.
Since Microsoft launched its IP licensing program in December 2003, the company has inked more than 700 licensing agreements.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”