It wasn't that long ago when Google announced that it had entered a cross-licensing deal with Samsung, and just two days ago, it entered one with Cisco as well. Not to be left out, Samsung announced today that it, too, had signed a deal with Cisco. As a part of this deal, both companies will have access to the other's patent portfolios for the next ten years.

Like the deals that came before, this agreement aims to reduce the risk of unnecessary patent lawsuits in the future. In March of last year, Google started an initiative called the Open Patent Non-Assertion Pledge, which provides a pool of patents the company owns that it won't sue anyone ever as long as everyone's playing along nicely. Today's deal is a different beast, but it marks a continued effort by companies to protect themselves from the threat of full-scale patent warfare.

Source: Samsung Tomorrow