Patent War-Weary Samsung Inks Cross-Licensing Deal with Cisco

Maybe Samsung is a little punchy from fighting what seems like an endless number of intellectual property wars on multiple fronts worldwide. The Korean manufacturer certainly seems in a patent peace-making frame of mind now.

Samsung’s latest truce overture is a new, 10-year, broad cross-licensing deal with networking giant Cisco Systems (CSCO), giving each company access to the other’s current patent folders and to whatever product and technology IP each records over the agreement’s lifetime. Neither party disclosed contract terms.

In a statement, the vendors called the agreement an “important industry step to enhance cooperation by curbing unnecessary patent litigation,” more of which has encumbered Samsung than Cisco of late. The deal marks Samsung’s third cross-licensing agreement in just the past few weeks, as the device maker appears to want to remove as much wireless patent clutter from its path as possible.

In January, Samsung ended a protracted patent battle with Ericsson (ERIC) when the two heavyweights agreed to cross-license each other’s cellular technologies, effectively ending a dispute stemming from the mobile network equipment maker’s lawsuit filed late in 2012 claiming the Korean device maker had infringed its intellectual property.

And, with overtones of its Cisco IP deal, Samsung earlier initiated a 10-year, global patent cross-licensing pact with Google (GOOG) that could include thousands of patents, not only for existing technologies and businesses but also for patents filed for the life of the agreement. Samsung and Google are regarded as longtime collaborators but until now the two had not signed a formal intellectual property deal.

Dan Lang, Cisco IP vice president, said the licensing agreement with Samsung will boost innovation for future products and services and lower the possibility that the vendors might sue each other over patent infringement conflicts.

“Innovation is stifled all too often in today’s overly litigious environment,” he said. “By cross-licensing our patent portfolios, Cisco and Samsung are taking important steps to reverse the trend and advance innovation and freedom of operation.”

Dr. Seungho Ahn, Samsung Intellectual Property Center head, said the vendor expects the IP pact will “result in mutual growth and, ultimately, for the benefit of both companies’ customers across the world.”