Google Launches PAX; Everything You Need To Know About Android's Patent Licensing Initiative

A more unified platform to access Android's patents has just been announced by Google, to the delight of all companies which can now enjoy the company's patent licensing rights. And if that isn't sufficient enough, Google has also revealed PAX is definitely royalty-free.

Android Headlines reported that on April 3rd, Google has launched the introduction of the "Android Network Cross-License Agreement" or otherwise known as PAX. Google shared that the acronym was taken from the Latin term which means "peace". The title is very much reflective of the platform's nature as the "Android Network Cross-License Agreement" should provide smooth policies for the firm's voluminous amount of patents.

PAX is deemed to be revolving more on Google's software business, most analysts have shared. As such, any hardware patents that are in place will still be subjected to the same patent rules, royalties and the succeeding disputes. PAX also consists of an inclusion which should allow its members to share software advancements without fretting over the so-called "patent threats".

Meanwhile, Google has also shared that PAX and the royalty-free patent licenses should now be rendered relevant to qualified devices that run the Android and Google Applications. On the other hand, the tech giant did not go into details as to the nature of these patents. Likewise, the firm did not elaborate on the examples on which type of patients is covered by the platform.

During PAX's announcement, Google has also shared some of the companies which have joined the initiative. These include Samsung, LG, Foxconn, HMD Global, HTC and a lot more. Needless to say, Google is also one of these companies which joined the patent exchange bandwagon, as per Android Central.

Google currently has 203,000 patents globally. It is expected to increase as soon as PAX is thoroughly immersed between Google and its members.