Verizon and Google on Tuesday announced a global patent cross-licensing agreement that will cover a broad range of technologies, and that the companies say will lower the risk of frivolous patent litigation in the future.

“[T]he Johnny-come-lately owner of a single patent can threaten an entire innovative ecosystem,” [company]Verizon[/company] wrote in a blog post describing the deal. The post also states that the arrangement will reduce the number of potential patents available to so-called patent trolls.

A person familiar with [company]Google[/company] noted that the deal mirrors three earlier ones that the internet giant signed with Cisco, Samsung and LG earlier this year. The person added that the goal of such deals is to show that cross-licensing is a better model than “patent privateering,” in which companies farm out patents to shell companies that then threaten to sue a broad range of targets.

Patent abuse has been an ongoing problem in recent years, in part due to the…