Verizon, Google Agree to Patent Deal

 

On Tuesday, Verizon and Google announced that they have come together to sign a long-term patent cross-license agreement.

This agreement covers "a broad range of products and technologies" and reduces "the risk of future patent litigation" for both companies. In a joint press release, Google and Facebook explained that this new agreement will help the companies avoid frivolous patent litigation. "The Constitution says that the patent system is supposed to "promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts." But in high-tech industries like ours, the patent system can be exploited to get in the way of innovation," explained Verizon's general counsel, Randal Milch, in a blog post. 

"High-tech products can implicate thousands of patents, and when patent litigation takes years, costs millions of dollars, and comes long after innovators have launched new products, the Johnny-come-lately owner of a single patent can threaten an entire innovative ecosystem. That's bad for innovation and bad for American consumers." He added, "We look forward to striking similar deals with other high-tech companies also concerned with the innovation tax that patent trolls often collect."

Google's head of patent transactions Kirk Dailey echoed these sentiments saying, "This cross license allows both companies to focus on delivering great products and services to consumers around the world. We're pleased to enter into this agreement with an industry leader like Verizon, and we welcome discussions with any company interested in a similar arrangement." Neither company went into detail on what exactly this new agreement covers. It is likely that the general public will not see any visible effects from this partnership.