[ad_1]
Microsoft sued Foxconn's parent company Friday for failing to abide by a 2013 patent license agreement. Foxconn, better known as one of Apple's suppliers, was supposed to pay royalties to Microsoft, but Microsoft says it did not pay on time and still needs money, plus interest.
The lawsuit is aimed at FIH Mobile, a subsidiary of Foxconn's parent company, Hon Hai, which makes phones for Xiaomi, Huawei and other companies. He alleges that Hon Hai has "consistently failed" to honor obligations such as submission of royalty reports and cooperation with independently conducted audits. The lawsuit asks Hon Hai to submit royalty reports, to comply with the audit and to remit the late royalty payments.
Foxconn chairman Terry Gou reacted angrily to the trial today and described it as "unjustified", as reported on Thursday. Bloomberg. At an impromptu press conference in Taiwan, Gou described Microsoft as obsolete and released Windows phones "no one wanted it". At one point, he forgot the name of the operating system of Microsoft before considering it as a lagging system compared to MacOS and Android. He continued: "Microsoft is falling behind in the era of smartphones facing the rise of Android. He is now adopting such a strategy. I really sympathize with them. "
Gou accused Microsoft of using the lawsuit to steal Android software royalties. He described Foxconn as an easy target for Microsoft, after: "[Microsoft] was too scared to sue Google for Android royalties, so instead, he's going after the vendors … This should be a fight between Google and Microsoft. He also mentioned the 15-hour gap between California and Taiwan: "Why are you waiting for us all to leave work to sue us?
In 2013, Microsoft licensed Android-related patents to companies such as Foxconn's Hon Hai and Taiwan-based computer company Acer. Microsoft charges royalties from most Android smartphone manufacturers and is a profitable business. Sometimes, relationships end up in dispute, as in 2014, when Microsoft sued Samsung to enforce its royalty agreement with Android. They settled in 2015, keeping the terms of the agreement confidential.
Frederick Herold, a Microsoft lawyer, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Microsoft has not responded to the comment. In a statement to several media, he said Saturday:
Microsoft takes its own contractual commitments seriously and we expect other companies to do the same. This legal action is simply to apply the conditions of report and audit of a contract we signed in 2013 with Hon Hai. Our working relationship with Hon Hai is important and we are working to resolve our disagreement.
[ad_2]
Source link