Microsoft filed a lawsuit on Friday against Samsung alleging that the South Korean giant has violated a patent agreement signed by the two companies in 2011.
The agreement covers technology used in the Android smartphones made by Samsung and provides for the company to pay Microsoft an undisclosed amount for each phone it sells.
In the lawsuit, filed in the US District Court in the Southern District of New York, Microsoft alleges that Samsung stopped complying with the agreement following Microsoft’s recent purchase of Nokia.
“After becoming the leading player in the worldwide smartphone market, Samsung decided late last year to stop complying with its agreement with Microsoft,” Microsoft deputy general counsel David Howard wrote in a blog posting. “In September 2013, after Microsoft announced it was acquiring the Nokia Devices and Services business, Samsung began using the acquisition as an excuse to breach its contract.”
“Microsoft and Samsung have a long history of collaboration,” Howard added. “Microsoft values and respects our partnership with Samsung and expects it to continue. We are simply asking the Court to settle our disagreement, and we are confident the contract will be enforced.”