Microsoft and Japanese electronics maker Kyocera have settled their smartphone patent dispute.
Microsoft sued Kyocera in U.S. federal court in Seattle in March, seeking damages and an injunction preventing Kyocera from selling some of its Android-powered phones. The Android operating system was built by Google, but Microsoft says it owns the rights to some of its underlying technology.
Microsoft on Thursday announced a patent licensing deal with Kyocera that includes rights for both companies “to use a broader range of each other’s technologies in their respective products through a patent cross license.”
Kyocera Industrial Ceramics Corp., headquartered in Hendersonville, N.C., has a Vancouver manufacturing facility at 5713 E. Fourth Plain Blvd. that makes components for such industries as aerospace, paper-making, and semiconductor processing equipment. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kyocera International Inc. of San Diego, the North American holding company for Kyocera Corp., based in Japan.
