Microsoft "in talks" with Huawei over Android patents

The Chinese telecoms company Huawei is in talks with Microsoft about its use of Android software in smartphones and tablets. Huawei's chief marketing officer, Victor Xu, confirmed the talks to the BBC, saying the talks were "in progress". Microsoft has been approaching numerous device manufacturers saying that Android, and the underlying Linux operating system, infringe an unspecified number of its patents. It then offers licensing deals in a process which has so far, according to Microsoft, seen over 55% of ODMs sign up for those deals.

Xu did not say whether the company was looking to sign a deal. "We always respect the intellectual property of key companies", he said, but added: "At the moment we have more than 65,000 patents and we have enough instruments to protect our interests." The company started out making PBX systems in the 1980s, then expanded into the mainstream telecommunications market in the late 1990s, becoming the second biggest network and telecoms equipment supplier in the world, with 110,000 employees and a revenue of $28 billion in 2010. Huawei has recently launched Android smartphones, the Blaze and Vision, and a 7 inch Honeycomb-based tablet called the MediaPad.

(djwm)