Canon-Sony partnership on new 50MP sensor?

Steve from CanonWatch reports about a possible “unexpected” partnership between Sony and Canon:

In other words, and according to the source, Canon and Sony will agree on a patent exchange to produce a 53MP sensor for Canon’s upcoming high resolution DSLRs. This sensor would keep the Exmor technology, and feature Canon’s Dual Pixel CMOS AF. The best of both worlds someone may say. Sony would still sell sensors to Nikon, but without the Dual Pixel AF (it is for sure not a problem for Sony to mass-produce slightly different lines of sensors).

I havent heard about such a partnership from my sources. But I think that this partnership would certainly make sense for both manufacturers to save some costs. Something necessary if you know the system camera market is shrinking dramatically (Source: Cipa on 43rumors).