Trial Reveals Friendly Patent Dealings Between Apple And Microsoft

In the Apple vs Samsung trial, we've just discovered that the iPhone maker has licensed several of their design and feature patents to Microsoft, on the condition that Microsoft didn't then use the patents to directly clone features. This isn't illegal, but it does raise questions over why Samsung and Apple never came to a similar agreement. According to TechNewsWorld.com, it could be because most of the patents that Apple licensed for Microsoft were for desktop OS use, a market that Apple hasn't been doing as well in. Another reason could be regarding Samsung's side of the deal: the company might have only offered cash in exchange for the patents, and Apple felt that it wasn't worth it. And Samsung is arguing that the patents aren't even valid - if the company doesn't see them as valid, then Samsung won't offer much in the way of money or incentives to get the patents. Because of this announcement, we now know that we won't be seeing an Apple vs Microsoft case anytime soon. Is that why the Surface is quite different from the iPad when it comes to design? Since Apple demanded a no-copy agreement on the patents, that might be why. If the Surface was too similar to the iPad, Apple could quickly pull the patent agreement and sue Microsoft.