greggh
December 12th, 2006, 03:48 AM
http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/76270/index.html
Patents in the software industry are like patents in many other industries – innovations can be protected through patents that then provide a basis for licensing those innovations to others. Microsoft’s extensive patent portfolio has allowed for significant license agreements with other industry innovators, including: Novell, Cisco Systems, HP, SGI, Xerox, SAP and Siemens. These agreements permit the parties to cross-pollinate their development efforts with each others’ patented innovations, which results in making key innovations more broadly available across varying technologies.
One of the benefits of patent agreements is that they allow freedom of action now and in the future.
See, software patents are really all about freedom and the ability to innovate. And I foolishly thought it had just the opposite effect. I'm glad Microsoft cleared that up for me.
Patents in the software industry are like patents in many other industries – innovations can be protected through patents that then provide a basis for licensing those innovations to others. Microsoft’s extensive patent portfolio has allowed for significant license agreements with other industry innovators, including: Novell, Cisco Systems, HP, SGI, Xerox, SAP and Siemens. These agreements permit the parties to cross-pollinate their development efforts with each others’ patented innovations, which results in making key innovations more broadly available across varying technologies.
One of the benefits of patent agreements is that they allow freedom of action now and in the future.
See, software patents are really all about freedom and the ability to innovate. And I foolishly thought it had just the opposite effect. I'm glad Microsoft cleared that up for me.