Nikon has entered into a patent cross-licensing agreement with Microsoft covering further development of each company’s current and future product lines.

 

August 29, 2008: Nikon has entered into a patent cross-licensing agreement with Microsoft covering further development of each company’s current and future product lines.
The joint agreement covers Nikon’s digital cameras as well as a wide range of other consumer products from each company. Details of terms have not been disclosed, although the parties have indicated that Microsoft is being compensated by Nikon. For Microsoft, the agreement will extend an existing long-standing collaboration with Nikon, which facilitated developments in wireless cameras and RAW processing technologies. Nikon sees the agreement as a way to ‘give our customers access to innovative technology’, according to GM of Intellectual Property Headquarters at Nikon, Naoki Tomino.

Both companies believe this patent cross-licensing agreement will substantially benefit customers of consumer products, including digital cameras, by enabling them to innovate openly with each other’s technologies, enabling new features and products to come to market.