Barnes & Noble and Microsoft on Monday settled an Android patent dispute through a union. An e-reading partnership, Newco, will see Microsoft take a $300 million, or 17.6 percent, stake in a project that should merge Barnes & Noble’s Nook business and its college division. In return for the funding, Barnes & Noble will make a Nook app for Windows 8 to help foster textbooks on future Microsoft-powered tablets.
The same deal explicitly ends any legal action between the two sides. Barnes & Noble and the Newco partnership will still owe royalties for the Android-based Nook lineup. Terms for the royalties weren’t given out, although Barnes & Noble will likely have been eager to stop some of the more stringent conditions Microsoft had originally wanted, such as blocking future Nook features and, allegedly, asking between $15 to $30 for every Nook sold.
The company added that its exploration of a possible split between digital and paper businesses was still in effect and that it might have to break Newco off as a separate project. No guarantees existed that such a move would even be necessary, Barnes & Noble said.
