Amazon has agreed a cross-licensing deal with Microsoft over its Kindle e-reader and use of Linux-based servers.
Under the agreement, the two companies get access to each other’s patent portfolio, and Amazon will pay Microsoft an undisclosed sum.
The deal is the latest of many that Microsoft has won, after years of maintaining that many Linux implementations infringe on its patents. These include the Kindle, which includes some open source software components.
“We are pleased to have entered into this patent license agreement with Amazon.com,” said Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel for Intellectual Property and Licensing at Microsoft.
“Microsoft’s patent portfolio is the largest and strongest in the software industry, and this agreement demonstrates our mutual respect for intellectual property as well as our ability to reach pragmatic solutions to IP issues regardless of whether proprietary or open source software is involved.”
