To prevent any ridiculous and time-consuming patent disputes, LG and Google have signed a patent licensing deal that allows each company to use the other's patents for the next ten years. The agreement includes any new patents filed by either company over the period.
Neither company has revealed the exact reasons behind the patent licensing deal. The companies did say that the agreement "builds on the long-standing strong alliance" between them, while Google's Allen Lo said that it would allow both his company and LG to "focus on bringing great products and services to consumers around the world".
By having such a patent sharing agreement, it removes the possibility of the companies suing each other over patent infringement. This would come in handy when developing products, especially Android smartphones where both companies hold numerous software-related patents. Without the possibility of expensive lawsuits, both Google and LG can focus on developing products efficiently.
It's unclear whether the patent licensing agreement is costing one company money, or whether it's simply a friendly and helpful deal. Google already has a similar deal with Samsung to license each other's patents over the next 10 years, which undoubtedly will assist in the development of more cool technology on both sides.
https://www.techspot.com/news/58705-google-lg-10-year-patent-licensing.html
