Microsoft: Licensing, not Litigating?
From article by Ina Fried in CNET news:
-->One place the software titan is trying to avoid is the courtroom. Following the lead of its intellectual property lawyer, former IBM attorney Marshall Phelps, Microsoft is seeking to beef up its licensing without having to file a bunch of suits to do so. Kaefer noted that Phelps built IBM's intellectual property business without filing a single lawsuit (although he inherited one when he took the job). <--
The article also states
-->Microsoft also is rapidly trying to boost its presence among the elite in the patent filing world. The software giant, which holds less than 4,000 patents, plans to file 3,000 applications for patents this year alone. <--
The 3,000 number seems to be higher than in previous reports. One wonders if proportionately more technical people were hired to reach the 3,000 goal, or if applications are to be filed on lower level items, using the same number of technical people. The IBM approach was to build a "wall of patents," with the idea that if any one, or a dozen patents, might not survive challenges, there would be one patent of the thousands that would win for IBM, and the competitor would lose.
-->One place the software titan is trying to avoid is the courtroom. Following the lead of its intellectual property lawyer, former IBM attorney Marshall Phelps, Microsoft is seeking to beef up its licensing without having to file a bunch of suits to do so. Kaefer noted that Phelps built IBM's intellectual property business without filing a single lawsuit (although he inherited one when he took the job). <--
The article also states
-->Microsoft also is rapidly trying to boost its presence among the elite in the patent filing world. The software giant, which holds less than 4,000 patents, plans to file 3,000 applications for patents this year alone. <--
The 3,000 number seems to be higher than in previous reports. One wonders if proportionately more technical people were hired to reach the 3,000 goal, or if applications are to be filed on lower level items, using the same number of technical people. The IBM approach was to build a "wall of patents," with the idea that if any one, or a dozen patents, might not survive challenges, there would be one patent of the thousands that would win for IBM, and the competitor would lose.
posted by Lawrence B. Ebert at 6:05 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home