If a company has been found to have infringed upon another company’s patent, a lawsuit usually occurs. Sometimes it is justified especially when the infringement is pretty blatant, but sometimes the patent in question is just so vague that we guess it could go either way depending on the interpretation.This is what patent trolls rely on, which is ambiguous patents that they hope companies would much rather settle over than drag it out in the courts. That is also something that Google hopes to end as they have launched PAX, what in Latin means “peace” and also represents the Android Networked Cross-License Agreement.
According to Google, “Under PAX, members grant each other royalty-free patent licenses covering Android and Google Applications on qualified devices. This community-driven clearinghouse, developed together with our Android partners, ensures that innovation and consumer choice—not patent threats—will continue to be key drivers of our Android ecosystem. PAX is free to join and open to anyone.”
Basically the idea is that companies who join PAX are more or less agreeing that they won’t sue each other over patents that are related to Android or Google. According to Google, so far companies such as Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Foxconn Technology Group, HMD Global, HTC, Coolpad, BQ, and Allview, along with Google naturally. Will Google’s initiative be successful? Only time will tell, but in the meantime those interested can check out the PAX website for the details.
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