And there is another alternative: Apple could ultimately seek a patent cross-licensing deal with Google despite its late chief executive Steve Jobs' vow to "destroy Android".
The deal also extends the existing patent cross-licensing deal between the two companies, and includes a NAND flash memory supply agreement for Samsung to provide chips to Seagate for solid-state drives and other products.
To facilitate sharing of information, he believes companies should be encouraged to form "patent pools", allowing them to cross-license their technologies without losing out on royalties.
Companies have also learned to work cooperatively to achieve their strategic IP goals by leveraging defensive patent pools, covenants not to sue, and creative cross-licensing models.