LONDON — Microsoft Corp. and Cadence Design Systems Inc. have entered a patent cross-licensing agreement expanding an existing relationship between the two companies. The agreement allows broad access to each company's respective patent portfolios to facilitate future technical collaboration.
The deal would appear to be part of an initiative by Microsoft (Redmond, Wash.) to commercialize its intellectual property portfolio with companies that write software. The terms of the deal and the direction in which monies were expected to flow, if at all, was not disclosed.
Microsoft announced it was open for IP business in 2003 and has announced recent IP cross-license collaborations with Cisco Systems Inc., LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., NEC Corp., Seiko Epson Corp., Siemens AG, SAP AG and Toshiba Corp.
"We are pleased to further expand our collaboration with Microsoft," said R.L. Smith McKeithen, senior vice president and general counsel at Cadence (San Jose, Calif.), in a statement issued by Microsoft.
"IP licensing continues to benefit today's technology industry and its customers," said Horacio Gutierrez, vice president of intellectual property and licensing at Microsoft, in the same statement.
Microsoft said licensing is a cornerstone of today's software industry and is an essential element of Cadence's strategy. Microsoft added that it has several thousand issued and pending U.S. patents.
Related articles:
Microsoft's EU loss may set precedent for Intel, Apple, others
Cadence in talks to go private, says report
Cadence, Mentor team on SystemVerilog verification
RSS
Digital
RSS| 
Digital| 
Mobile
