Lenovo-Microsoft: 1.2 billion US Dollar IPR Agreement

Microsoft and Lenovo decided to forge a strategic co-operation. After Lenovo had already announced it will pre-install legal Microsoft operating software on its computer, read here, it will now buy for US $ 1.2 billion in Microsoft licenses for the next 12 months. Lenovo chairman Yang Yuanqing even called the deal "the largest intellectual property agreement," whatever that may mean. Lenovo and Microsoft will promote the use, and benefits, of bona fide Microsoft software products in China, as well as in some 65 countries and regions around the world.

To add lustre to the activities Vice-Premier Wu Yi wrote: "I believe that better IPR protection in China will create more favourable conditions for China-US co-operation in the software area."

Read Li Xing's article for the China Daily here.

"About 70 percent of Chinese buyers opt for Microsoft's Windows, the world's most popular operating system, up from 10 percent in November when Lenovo started pre-installing copies, Yang said yesterday in an interview," wrote Peter Robison for Bloomberg. Read more here.