Google and Verizon have teamed up in an effort to combat "patent trolls," companies that essentially exist to collect patents and garner money through lawsuits.
The two companies have struck a deal for a "long-term patent cross-license agreement" that is intended to protect both of them from future patent lawsuits and includes various products and technologies.
"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," Verizon's Randal Milch said in a company blog post. "That's bad for innovation and bad for American consumers."
Neither Google nor Verizon has given further details on what patents are covered in the agreement. Milch said that similar deals will likely be struck in the future as the companies work to reduce expensive and time-consuming litigation.
"We're pleased that today's licensing deal with Google will help reduce the supply of patents that so-called patent trolls can assert against us," he said in the post.
Patent litigation reached a record high last year, with the majority of 2013's 6,000 lawsuits brought by patent trolls, according to the License on Transfer Network, a group comprising Google and other big tech names.
"This cross license allows both companies to focus on delivering great products and services to consumers around the world," Kirk Dailey, head of patent transactions at Google, said in a statement. "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."
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