Report: Apple Offers Android a Truce, Licensing for $5-$15 Per Device

From DailyTech: Apple, Inc.'s (AAPL) legal war with the "Big Three" of the Android world -- HTC Corp. (TPE:2498), Samsung Electronics Comp., Ltd. (KS:005930), and Google Inc.'s (GOOG) nearly-acquired subsidiary-to-be Motorola Mobility -- has taken on legendary status as worldwide courts have been swept up in a torrent of suits and countersuits.

The gadget-makers' open war has drawn international scrutiny, particularly when contrast to Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) who has largely thrived and profited off a softer approach of offering licensing. Apple claimed to have once offered Samsung such a deal, but it had made no efforts of late to license -- until now.

The official NASDAQ Newswires service is reporting that Apple is in deep talks with Android's big three, looking to settle the lawsuits for a per-device payment of between $5 and $15 USD -- between 1 and 2.5 percent of the devices' purchase price. That's on-par with the licensing rates Microsoft has demanded.

But following the shut-down of portions of Apple's iCloud service in Germany thanks to Motorola's push-email lawsuit Apple's new leadership may be growing wary of the high cost in attrition that Mr. Jobs' conflict with Apple has wrought. The Motorola decision represents a serious threat to Apple for a couple reasons.

First, it represents a new breed of Android legal attack on Apple. Where as past Android lawsuits from Samsung and Motorola have largely relied on wireless standards patents, raising questions about abuse given the patents' "fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory" (FRAND) licensing requirements, the Motorola suit relied on non-FRAND IP and thus is thought to be much stronger. With Google, Motorola Mobility, Samsung, and HTC "following in Apple's line" in picking up the pace with patenting seemingly trivial software embellishments and features, the odds of Apple being forced to drop more features in the future seems increasingly likely.

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