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Microsoft continues to strengthen its hold over the Android device industry with another patent licensing deal, this one with Taiwanese ODM Compal. The pact means, according to the Windows giant, that half the world's ODM base for Android and Chrome devices has now signed up for royalty agreements.

The new deal covers the wide variety of devices which Compal makes on behalf of other vendors, including Android smartphones, tablets and e-readers and the emerging category of Chromebooks.

"We are pleased to have reached this agreement with Compal, one of the leaders in the original design manufacturing, or ODM, industry. Together with the licence agreements signed in the past few months with Wistron and Quanta Computer, today's agreement with Compal means more than half of the world's ODM industry for Android and Chrome devices is now under license to Microsoft's patent portfolio," said Horacio Gutierrez, deputy general counsel in Microsoft's IPR group, in a statement.

Microsoft has yet to target Google directly over Android patents, but its list of agreements with device makers is lengthening. Its flagship wins were with HTC and Samsung- the formers' deal is the only one where the level of royalties, at around $5 a handset, has been reported. Both these handset makers are also supporters of Microsoft's own WP7, and in Samsung's case, the agreement to pay Android royalties brought significant collaboration in WP7 development and marketing.

By contrast, Motorola Mobility, which had no WP7 devices, has held out against Microsoft's demands and is engaged in a legal battle, which could bring Google directly into the fray if it has not been settled by the time of the acquisition of MMI. The Windows firm is also suing Barnes & Noble.

What is unclear in the ODM deals is whether they will also cover the firms' customers. Some observers thought the pact with Quanta could protect Amazon from Microsoft's ire since the Taiwanese firm makes the Android-based Kindle Fire, widely expected to be a target for the Redmond lawyers. But according to a ZDnet analysis, it is unlikely that a Quanta agreement would automatically protect its customers, despite possible claims of 'double-dipping' on royalties.

Microsoft told the online newspaper: "Quanta is one of two major ODMs for which we've entered an Android Patent Agreement. Because we offer patent licences to OEMs and ODMs, we put in place provisions that make sure we are not paid twice for the same device. Having said that, for the Android agreements we offer ODMs, we seek agreements that provide coverage for as broad a set of the ODM's offerings as possible. We cannot specify particular terms for any of the ODM agreements."

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