technology companies seem to have woken up to the fact that collaboration is an effective way to get more competitive. Two factors have driven this change in tactics. The first was the desire to avoid litigation that is basically a waste of time, money and effort. The second was the need to tap growth opportunities related to cloud computing, which has greatly increased the need for inter-operability. Here is a brief recap of some of the big deals this year:
Google (GOOGL – Analyst Report) was one of the most enthusiastic collaborators as it attempted to minimize litigation and diversify its revenue source.
Google, Samsung and Cisco
The 10-year agreement between Google and Samsung, signed in Jan 2014, covered a large number (though not all) current and future patents of the companies and is intended to minimize litigation for both. While it is in Google's interest to have viable competition to Samsung, this is the strongest competitor to Apple devices that do not use Android.
The following month, Cisco (CSCO – Analyst Report) entered into similar agreements with Samsung and Google, running up to 10 years and giving the three companies the right to cross-license their technologies even if any of it was subsequently sold off to companies that were not part of the contract.
Google and LG
In November, Google entered into a patent cross-licensing deal with LG for existing and new patents over the next 10 years. Google and Samsung have not been the best of allies in recent times and the search company has been building relationships with other hardware makers (it chose HTC for its latest Nexus tablets).
Google and Sprint
In July, Google and Sprint (S) entered into a deal according to which Sprint is pushing Google Apps for Business to its own customers and serving as a single point of contact for customers needing the resolution of problems related to their network, devices or apps. Sprint is selling the Google suite for $5 per user per month (no markup) with those also wanting unlimited storage having to pay $10. Sprint will provide several additional services to these customers, some of which will be free.
