Microsoft’s secret Android patents revealed by Chinese government

Microsoft has been licensing access to part of its patent portfolio for several years now, offering device makers protection from litigation related to Android and Chrome OS. While Microsoft boasts than more than 70 percent of Android phones sold in the US are covered by licensing agreements, the company has never listed what patents are infringed by Android. Instead, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) has now revealed a list of more than 300 patents and applications held by Microsoft that formed the Chinese approval of the Nokia deal recently.

The list includes 73 standard-essential patents, but there’s also 127 patents that Microsoft claims are implemented in Android. Some on the list, as Ars Technica notes, include patents that...

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