Samsung files over Microsoft fight

Samsung Electronics sought to arbitrate a contract dispute with Microsoft as the companies continue to spar over a 2011 plan to collaborate on phones and tablets running software made by the maker of Windows.

Samsung said in a court filing in Manhattan federal court yesterday that it’s making a claim for credits contained in a confidential business collaboration agreement with Microsoft.

The Korean phonemaker said in the two-sentence filing it’s seeking arbitration in the Hong Kong office of the International Court of Arbitration “to resolve a dispute concerning the calculation of success credits” under the business collaboration agreement. Samsung didn’t disclose the amount it’s seeking.

“Microsoft and Samsung agreed in the contract that the appropriate venue to interpret the business collaboration agreement is New York,” Jennifer Crider, a Microsoft spokeswoman, said in a statement yesterday. “We still believe that to be true.”

Samsung disclosed the Hong Kong filing in a suit filed against it by Microsoft in August over a related patent licensing agreement. In its suit, Microsoft is seeking $6.9 million from Samsung in allegedly unpaid interest. Microsoft said in a revised complaint filed Friday that Samsung paid it as much as $1 billion under the agreement last year.

Microsoft claims the seven-year contract required Samsung to pay royalties for phones and tablets that use the software maker’s patented technology.

Microsoft claims Samsung is using its acquisition of Nokia Oyj’s phone business as an excuse to stop complying with the contract. The license agreement contains explicit provisions that grant a patent license to both companies’ subsidiaries, including Nokia, Microsoft said in its complaint.

Microsoft pays Samsung an annual, pre-set royalty to use Samsung’s patents, which is credited against royalties Samsung owes Microsoft each year, according to the filing.

Microsoft is also seeking a court declaration that the Nokia acquisition doesn’t affect the two companies’ contracts.

Most Samsung mobile devices use Google’s Android operating system.Bloomberg