Chinese Website Discloses Microsoft Android Patents

A Chinese government website has published lists of the patents that Microsoft claims are necessary to the functioning of Android smartphones, the first time such lists have been made public.

The patents were analysed by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) as part of its review of Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia’s handset business, which China approved in April.

Legal threat

Microsoft has sued Android device makers, including Barnes & Noble over its Nook tablet, over the patents in question, and several Android manufacturers have signed up to the company’s licensing scheme rather than engage in legal action. Google, which develops the Android software, has called the licensing scheme “extortion“.

While some of the patents involved have been disclosed in court proceedings, the Chinese documents are the first time that such a comprehensive list has been published. The disclosure was earlier reported by IT industry journal Ars Technica.

In announcing the conclusion of the Chinese review in April, Microsoft said its agreement with the Chinese government was based on the company’s possession of “approximately 200 patent families” that cover Android smartphones.

The two documents published by MOFCOM include a longer list (Word document) of 310 patents and patent applications, and a shorter document (Word document) limited to just over 100 of the patents and applications from the broader list, and divided into groups relating them to particular technologies, including the Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) protocol and the exFAT file system, both developed by Microsoft.

Rockstar patents

The lists also include patents acquired by Microsoft via its participation in the Rockstar Consortium, which in 2011 paid $4.5 billion (£2.6bn) for patents previously owned by Nortel. The consortium has used some of those patents to seek royalties from Google and from Android manufacturers, with others distributed to participants including Apple, Microsoft, Blackberry, Ericsson and Sony.

The longer list includes 73 patents designated as “standard-essential” patents (SEPs) that Microsoft claims are implemented on smartphones generally, followed by 127 said to be implemented on Android. The list also includes 42 patents and 68 applications that are listed as “non-SEP” assets.

The list includes patents that have previously been disclosed in court documents, such as No. 5,889,522, “System Provided Child Window Controls”, and No. 6,339,780, “Loading Status in a Hypermedia Browser Having a Limited Available Display Area”, both of which were used in the 2011 Barnes & Noble case.

Merger terms

The MOFCOM page discusses the conditions agreed to by Microsoft as a condition of the merger’s approval; Microsoft also published these terms in an English-language document (PDF).

The terms include provisions such as a promise to adhere to existing promises made to standards organisations regarding the licensing of of standard-essential patents on reasonable terms.

The Chinese government, in its April statement on the matter, said its primary interest was to protect China’s smartphone industry. The ministry stated at the time that 75 percent of the world’s handsets are manufactured in China, and that China accounts for 34 percent of the global smartphone market.

Microsoft declined to comment on the matter.

In March Dell signed up to pay Android licence fees to Microsoft, joining the likes of Samsung, Acer, Compal Electronics, General Dynamics Itronix, HTC, Onkyo, Quanta Computer, Velocity Micro, Viewsonic and Wistron.

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