Over the years we have seen lots of patent lawsuits in the smartphone industry involving the likes of Apple, Samsung, Google, HTC, Nokia and more. To avert future intellectual property lawsuits among Android OEMs, Google has announced the PAX license initiative focusing on ending patent suits
According to this blog post put out by Google; PAX is a cross license agreement signed by consenting Android OEMs to bring about patent peace and further expand the openness of Android. Under the initiative, members grant each other royalty-free patent licenses covering Android and Google Applications on qualified devices.
We believe PAX will further expand the openness of Android for its members, promoting patent peace that will free up time and money for members, who can then dedicate those resources to creating new ideas.
Members currently include Google, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Foxconn Technology Group, HMD Global (new owners of the Nokia smartphone brand), HTC, Coolpad, BQ, and Allview. All these comanies collectively own more than 230,000 patents worldwide. It is free to join and interested companies (large and small) can join.
PS: PAX in Latin means Peace.
Source: Google Blog
