Microsoft, Google stand down in patent battles  

Microsoft Corp and Google Inc have agreed to bury all patent infringement litigation against each other, the companies announced on Wednesday, settling 18 cases in the United States and Germany. 

PHOTO: REUTERS

OCT 1, 20157:32 AM

[NEW YORK] Microsoft Corp and Google Inc have agreed to bury all patent infringement litigation against each other, the companies announced on Wednesday, settling 18 cases in the United States and Germany.

In another sign of the winding down of the global smartphone wars, the companies said the deal puts an end to court fights involving a variety of technologies, including mobile phones, wifi, and patents used in Microsoft's Xbox game consoles and other Windows products.

The agreement also drops all litigation involving Motorola Mobility, which Google sold to Lenovo Group Ltd last year while keeping its patents.

However, as Microsoft and Google continue to make products that compete directly with each other, including search engines and mobile computing devices, the agreement notably does not preclude any future infringement lawsuits, a Microsoft spokeswoman confirmed.

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"Google and Microsoft have agreed to collaborate on certain patent matters and anticipate working together in other areas in the future to benefit our customers," the companies said in a joint statement. They did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.

The companies said they have been cooperating on such issues as the development of a unified patent court for the European Union, and on royalty-free technology for speeding up video on the Internet.

One of the most bitter disputes between the rivals began in 2010 when Microsoft accused Motorola, later acquired by Mountain View, California-based Google, of breaching its obligation to offer licenses to its wireless and video patents used in Xbox systems at a reasonable cost.

In July, a US appeals court ruled that the low licensing rate Microsoft pays to use the patents had been properly set by a federal judge in Seattle.

Wednesday's agreement is not the first among smartphone heavyweights to settle their patent disputes.

In 2014, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Apple Inc agreed to drop all litigation against one another outside the United States.

REUTERS

      

Prompt payments hit one-year high in Q3: Singapore Commercial Credit Bureau

By

Jamie Lee leejamie@sph.com.sg@JamieLeeBT

Overall prompt payments reached a one-year high in the third quarter of this year, data from Singapore Commercial Credit Bureau on Thursday showed. Slow payments have also reached its lowest since the first quarter of 2014. 

ST PHOTO: NEO XIAOBIN

OCT 1, 201511:17 AM

OVERALL prompt payments reached a one-year high in the third quarter of this year, data from Singapore Commercial Credit Bureau on Thursday showed. Slow payments have also reached its lowest since the first quarter of 2014.

It inched up slightly above the 50 per cent mark, up 5.08 percentage points from a year ago to 51.05 per cent. From a quarter ago, this rose by 2.58 percentage points.

Overall slow payments fell slightly by 3.04 percentage points quarter-on-quarter to 38.31 per cent in the third quarter. Over the year, it dropped 3.61 percentage points.

Prompt payments in Singapore - defined as such when at least 90 per cent of total bills are paid within the agreed payment terms - accounted for more than half of the payment transactions.

Slow payments accounted for less than two-fifths in the third quarter of this year. The latter are so classified when more than half of the total bills are paid later than the agreed credit terms.

    
 

GIC partners US Reit Macerich to invest in five retail assets

By

Cai Haoxianghaoxiang@sph.com.sg@HaoxiangCaiBT

Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC has entered into a joint venture with US-listed retail real estate investment trust (Reit) Macerich to invest in a 40 per cent interest in five retail assets in the US. 

PHOTO: BLOOMBERG NEWS

OCT 1, 201510:48 AM

SINGAPORE sovereign wealth fund GIC has entered into a joint venture with US-listed retail real estate investment trust (Reit) Macerich to invest in a 40 per cent interest in five retail assets in the US.

The transactions are subject to closing conditions and are expected to close in phases starting in October 2015 and concluding in the first quarter of 2016, GIC said in a press release.

The five joint venture retail assets are: Washington Square in Portland, Oregon; Los Cerritos Centre in Cerritos, California; Arrowhead Towne Centre in Glendale, Arizona; Lakewood Centre in Lakewood, California; and South Plains Mall in Lubbock, Texas.

Lee Kok Sun, regional head for Americas at GIC Real Estate, said that GIC expects the assets to generate steady income streams and is confident of their growth moving forward.

"As a long-term value investor, we look forward to partnering with Macerich, one of the premier owners and operators of shopping centres in the US, as they share our core investment belief of being long term."

    
 

US office vacancy rate falls in third quarter

Office worker at Raffles Place, the heart of the central business district (CBD) on June 3, 2015. The US office vacancy rate fell to 16.5 per cent in the third quarter from 16.6 per cent in the second, research firm Reis Inc said. 

ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI

OCT 1, 201511:47 AM

[BENGALURU] The US office vacancy rate fell to 16.5 per cent in the third quarter from 16.6 per cent in the second, research firm Reis Inc said.

"Continued gains in the labor market are driving increased demand for office space," Ryan Severino, senior economist at Reis, said.

"Over the last seven quarters, not only has the number of total jobs created per month gradually increased, but the number of higher-wage, office-using jobs has also increased," Mr Severino said in a statement on Wednesday.

Washington DC remained the tightest market, with a vacancy rate of 9.0 per cent. New York followed at 9.2 per cent.

Vacancy is expected to compress by another 10 to 20 basis points during the fourth quarter, along with an acceleration in rent growth, Mr Severino said.

The asking and effective rents increased by 0.6 and 0.7 per cent, respectively, in the third quarter.

REUTERS