By Kim Yoo-chul
Samsung Electronics has filed a petition for arbitration with an international court office in Hong Kong to resolve a dispute with Microsoft (MS) over handset royalties.
It filed the request with the Hong Kong office of the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).
In the two-sentence filing, Samsung said it aims to resolve a dispute concerning the calculation of success credits under a confidential business collaboration agreement.
Samsung said in a statement that the licensing pact with MS calls for the parties to resolve differences over royalties, if any, under the authority of the ICC, and its Asia-Pacific office is in Hong Kong.
“Therefore, we filed the request with the Hong Kong office in accordance with due procedure,” an official said. “And the ICC’s Asia-Pacific headquarters in Tokyo will handle further legal proceedings.”
Separately, MS Korea said in a statement that it has already agreed with Samsung to discuss any differences over royalties in New York.
MS filed a lawsuit against Samsung with a New York court. In 2011, they signed a cross-licensing agreement under which they could access each other’s patents.
Samsung’s move comes as it is involved in various legal issues against Apple in the United States.
The two firms have dropped lawsuits filed against each other in countries other than the U.S. Samsung earlier lost a patent suit against Apple in the United States, and had to pay the iPhone designer more than $1 billion in damages.
MS CEO Satya Nadella and Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong met in Samsung's main office in Seocho, southern Seoul, last week.
The discussions were aimed at mending souring ties between the two technology giants in the wake of MS's lawsuit against Samsung.
Samsung paid $1 billion in licensing fees to MS last year, according to the 2011 agreement.
However, it was late in paying the royalties ― handing them over in late November last year although the payment was due in October ― pushing MS to ask Samsung to pay $7 million more in interest.
Samsung contends that MS's takeover of Nokia didn't cover the cross-licensing terms to which Samsung and MS agreed. Therefore, the agreement needs to be revised for cuts in Samsung payments to MS.
MS said its seven-year patent contract with Samsung is still effective.
Officials and watchers say the dispute between the two is going to end soon unlike the Samsung-Apple fight as MS needs to keep Samsung on its top client list to boost its Word and Windows platform-based device sales and to collect more fees from the top Android device-maker.