Samsung Electronics on Tuesday announced it has called out for an arbitration proceeding against Microsoft Corp in Hong Kong over the ongoing smartphone patent royalty litigation.
The request for arbitration was disclosed in a filing, made with the Manhattan federal court, as part of Microsoft’s federal lawsuit over the 2011 licensing agreement with Samsung.
The electronic giant said it has filed for an arbitration proceeding with the Hong Kong office of the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce.
The arbitration request has been filed under the terms of a business collaboration agreement “to resolve a dispute concerning the calculation of success credits under that agreement,’’ Samsung said. The filing, however, did not disclose as why the arbitration has been filed in Hong Kong.
Microsoft, in its lawsuit, has accused Samsung of breaching a patent royalty agreement that required the South Korean smartphone maker to pay Microsoft royalties for phones and tablets that use the software maker’s patented technology.
Redmond claimed Samsung made royalty payments on time during the first fiscal year after they signed the agreement in 2011. But the electronics giant did refuse to make the second payment after Microsoft announced the Nokia deal in September 2013, arguing that the acquisition breached its licensing agreement with the software maker.
Samsung eventually paid late but without adding interest, which amounted to around $6.9 million.
