Patent License: One Way Payment From Microsoft by: Dan Hughes ([email protected]) During the post-keynote conference call with executives from both Apple and Microsoft, acting Apple chief executive and full-time financial officer, Fred Anderson, said that, in addition to the $150 million non-voting equity investment, Microsoft will also pay Apple an undisclosed sum of money as part of the announced five-year patent license agreement. As Anderson put it; the payment is entirely one way from Microsoft, even though both companies will have full rights to each other's portfolio of patent licenses. The undisclosed amount will not be recognize in one quarter, according to Anderson. Instead, the cash payment will be spread over a few years and will be used as income, which hints that the sum is of a significant amount.