Google seems to be making its way into China again having been banned there since 2010 with a patent cross licensing deal with Chinese conglomerate Tencent.
For those who haven’t heard about Tencent before, it is a thriving Chinese company which mainly caters in field of internet and technology, with a mammoth market value of US$562 billion which makes it the Asia’s most valuable company. They provide a wide range of services including game development, virtual goods, WeChat, TenPay. Confederating with Tencent is expected to be the most optimal way for Google to re-enter China. There is no denial to the fact that Google has seen decline in its profit after withdrawing from China, so trying to get there again is not at all surprising.
Google has made many other moves lately which shows its augmenting interest for incorporating in China. It recently opened an AI research center in China, invested $120 million in Chinese e-sport firm Chushou. They also made some direct investments in a China-based startup.
The complete details of the patent crosslinking agreement is yet to be disclosed, however as stated by Google, this patent has been signed in order to avoid litigations in case of infringement disputes.
An entry for Google in China will give them an opportunity to work together on future innovations and technologies and as said by Google’s Head of Patents Mike Lee, “By working together on agreements such as this, tech companies can focus on building better products and services for their users.”