Manufacturers pony up to avoid litigation While Google insists that Microsoft doesn’t own intellectual property included in its Android operating system, manufacturers who make Android devices think its smarter to pay Microsoft royalties on disputed patents than to get entangled in court cases.The latest: the parent company of Foxconn, which builds the lion’s share of Android devices, has agreed to pay license fees to Microsoft for every phone, tablet and television based on either Android or Google’s other operating system, Chrome, according to a statement issued by Microsoft.DISPUTE: The Microsoft/Android war: Which patents are at stake? TEST YOURSELF: The Windows 8 quiz The agreement with Foxconn’s parent company Hon Hai is significant because Foxconn is so large, making 40% of all mobile phones as well as other devices that are sold by vendors of brand-name devices such as Apple and Acer. Some of the patents involved deal with arcane areas such as implementing both long and short file names in the same file system, a monitoring system that determines when to erase data from flash memory devices and cellular technology that lets applications issue commands without needing knowledge of the phone’s underlying radio structure or specific knowledge of the radio network’s specific commands. Hon Hai’s not the only manufacturer to pay up. Compal and Wistron also license Microsoft technology as do device vendors Acer, HTC and Samsung.Microsoft and Google are embroiled in patent suits that dispute whether Microsoft patents cover intellectual property included in Android. Apple has a similar beef.Apparently it makes good business sense to pay Microsoft’s per-device license fees as they go along rather than get stuck with a big bill later if Microsoft wins its lawsuit against Google.Tim Greene covers Microsoft and unified communications for Network World and writes the Mostly Microsoft blog. Reach him at tgreene@nww.com and follow him on Twitter@Tim_Greene.More on Microsoft:Microsoft lures Windows XP business customers to Windows 8 with a 15% discount Microsoft Hotmail, Outlook, SkyDrive problems could hurt customer confidenceMicrosoft seeks to capture a generation of Office 365 usersMicrosoft could pay billions for running afoul in Europe Should Azure customers worry about reliability? Windows 8 guru names the top 8 trends at CES Windows 8 portables to get inexpensive, long-lived by Xmas 2013?‘Christmas gift for someone you hate: Windows 8’Rumored follow-ons for Surface tablets; reduced orders for original SurfaceMicrosoft buys a starring role for its Surface tablet on TV’s ‘Suburgatory’ Related content opinion Ancient Microsoft scam lives on Someone else has been using my computer so I should let the man on the phone take a peek at it By Tim Greene Sep 19, 2014 4 mins Microsoft news analysis iPhone 6 is an apple, the Lumia 830 Windows Phone is an orange. Microsoft is competing on price, services not exclusivity By Tim Greene Sep 09, 2014 3 mins Small and Medium Business Microsoft Windows opinion Microsoft previews cloud-based Web apps proxy service in Azure By Tim Greene Jun 12, 2014 4 mins Microsoft analysis Microsoft: Upgrade from Office 2003, but not to Office 2013 By Tim Greene Mar 25, 2014 2 mins Microsoft Enterprise Applications Podcasts Videos Resources Events NEWSLETTERS Newsletter Promo Module Test Description for newsletter promo module. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe