The Apple lawsuit against HTC is quite an example of the increasing patent disputes between smartphone makers. With rapid growth and innovation in the space, the patent bank of any company becomes very crucial. When Apple sued HTC, its relatively weak patent portfolio became the talk of the town. It now seems that HTC is safeguarding itself against anymore lawsuits with this deal with Microsoft which covers Android phones aswell. Apparently Microsoft has claimed that Android infringes on its patents and HTC deal would bring them royalties. Microsoft also said that they are in talks with other manufacturers however no word on a deal with Google or lawsuit yet.
It is believed that Apple has been in a similar mode to threaten smartphone makers working on Android platform. The lawsuit with HTC and Nokia certainly clears their intentions. I am sure that we have just hit the tip of the iceberg in the smartphone patents case. Expecting lot more to unfold in the months to come!