The New York Times reports that Microsoft has held “secret talks” with Adobe, and that “one of the main thrusts of the discussion was Apple and its control of the mobile phone market, and how the two companies could team-up in the battle against Apple.” One of the options suggested was that Microsoft could acquire Adobe. The two companies have not traditionally been especially close, with Microsoft developing its Silverlight technology as a competitor to Adobe’s Flash. However, Flash is becoming an important tool for cross-platform content development, and Apple’s tough stance on the technology (now eased somewhat) may have led the company to improve its relationship with other platform providers as a form of defence. According to a statement made to the paper by Adobe: “Adobe and Microsoft share millions of customers around the world and the CEOs of the two companies do meet from time-to-time.” It was also noted that Adobe and Microsoft held partnership talks before, but at a point when Microsoft was more of a dominant force in the IT industry, and an acquisition may therefore have sparked competition concerns.

Separately, Microsoft licensed a number of smartphone technologies owned by Japanese software provider ACCESS. The deal covers “innovations created by ACCESS, Palm, Palmsource, Bell Communications Research and Geoworks.” ACCESS previously bought the device operating system business spun-out from Palm, PalmSource, which gave it control of a portfolio of technologies from the smart device pioneer. According to the Wall Street Journal, some of the patents Microsoft has licensed from ACCESS are cited in a lawsuit lodged by Acacia Research, ACCESS’s licensing partner, which alleges infringements by Apple, RIM, Motorola, Samsung, and other, unspecified device makers. It is unclear if the deal has been inked now in order to enable a smooth launch of the Windows Phone 7 platform, without the danger of future legal actions. The last week has seen a ramp-up of legal action related to handset patents, with Microsoft itself taking action against Motorola, and developments in actions involving Oracle and Google, Apple and Nokia, and Motorola and Apple.