Microsoft Corp. and HTC Corp. have signed a patent agreement that provides broad coverage under Microsoft’s patent portfolio for HTC’s mobile phones running the Android mobile platform. Under the terms of the agreement, Microsoft will receive royalties from HTC.

The agreement expands HTC’s long-standing business relationship with Microsoft, which includes usage of Windows Mobile operating systems on HTC phones. However, this time the companies did not reveal which technologies HTC licenses from the world’s largest software maker.

HTC recently said that it was very pleased to see successfully Android ramping globally. According to the company, the U.S. quickly adopted HTC Android smartphones and started gaining significant market share as early as by 2009. The company also indicated that Android momentum started to pick up even seriously from the beginning of 2010 and expressed confidence that HTC phones with Android operating system would get popular all around the world in 2010 as the product portfolio becomes broader.

“HTC and Microsoft have a long history of technical and commercial collaboration, and today’s agreement is an example of how industry leaders can reach commercial arrangements that address intellectual property,” said Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel of intellectual property and licensing at Microsoft.

Earlier this year Apple sued HTC for patent infringements by phones featuring Google Android mobile platforms. In particular, Apple accused HTC of infringing its multi-touch technology patents. According to HTC, the suit did impact its sales.

“So far, we see no immediate impact on our products, business and customers,” a statement by HTC reads.

Tags: HTC, Microsoft, Google, Android