Google and Microsoft make peace in patents feud

Google and Microsoft have ended a five-year legal feud that had seen the tech titans launch around 20 legal suits against each other in the US and Germany.

The companies have been battling since 2010 over royalties related to technology in the Xbox games console and Motorola Mobility phones, which Google owned until 2014.

When it sold the phone group to Lenovo, the company best known for its search engine retained many of the patents.

In a joint statement the companies said: "Microsoft and Google are pleased to announce an agreement on patent issues. As part of the agreement, the companies will dismiss all pending patent infringement litigation between them, including cases related to Motorola Mobility.”

The companies have also now agreed to collaborate on some patent matters, including a unified patent court for the European Union and royalty-free technology for speeding up video over the internet.

The peace deal is the latest move by rival technology companies to keep their battles out of court. Lately, there has been a shift towards licensing of software, as opposed to litigation.

Financial terms of the truce were not disclosed.

Samsung and Apple agreed to drop their patent disputes outside the US last year.