17 July 2009, 13:01

Microsoft to receive royalties for Buffalo's Linux devices

Microsoft has announced that the Melco Group, the Japanese-based parent company of Buffalo Inc., has signed a Linux software patent agreement for its Buffalo-branded products, with Microsoft. According to Microsoft, the patent agreement only covers Buffalo-branded Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices and Buffalo-branded routers that run Linux.

Hajime Nakai, director and member of the board at Buffalo said “While we plan to increasingly adopt Windows Storage Server for our NAS business, we also wanted to ensure that our open source and Linux-embedded devices had the appropriate IP protections. By collaborating with Microsoft on a practical business solution, we are able to provide our customers with the appropriate IP coverage, while also maintaining full compliance with our obligations under the GPLv2."

The specific patents that Melco has licensed and how much will be paid to Microsoft in royalties for them has not been disclosed by either company.

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