Samsung and Sandisk Extend Patent Agreement
I've talked about in the past how big heavyweights in the semiconductor space are using their patents in innovative ways. Well, earlier this week Samsung (both a patent and business heavyweight) and Sandisk (certainly a patent heavyweight and a flash memory heavyweight) signed an extension of their previous broad patent license agreement. The extension runs to 2016 and continues the royalty payments from Samsung to Sandisk for Sandisks patents, albeit at a much lesser amount. In addition, Samsung agrees to guarantee Sandisk access to its foundry. The Wall Street Journal had estimated that Samsung was previously paying hundreds of millions of dollars a year to Sandisk under the old agreement. Not a bad return on investment for a patent portfolio!
This follows my general feeling that patent litigation between "real" companies may be waning. Instead, chip companies in this tough economy are preferring to come to terms using creative business arrangements. This may also signal a trend where there is more "bartering" of services instead of a straight license and royalty model popular in the past. Companies want a win-win that makes sense and the Samsung/Sandisk deal may be one example of this.
