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Microsoft Applauds the Appointment of Victoria Espinel
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Posted by Horacio Gutierrez
Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel
Late Thursday, the Senate voted to confirm Victoria Espinel as the first United States Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC). Microsoft applauds this action and welcomes the opportunity to work with Ms. Espinel as she moves into her new role.
The U.S. software industry has been an engine for jobs and economic growth. In 2007, the software and related services sector employed 1.7 million people in jobs that – on average – paid 195 of the national norm. And the sector contributed more than $261 billion to GSP, making it the largest of the U.S. copyright industries. Balanced IP laws and enforcement polices at home and abroad are necessary to safeguard these contributions.
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Chinese Consumers Speak Out Against Software Piracy
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Posted by David Finn
Associate General Counsel
Today is Consumer Action Day – a 24-hour period when we highlight the hundreds of education and enforcement initiatives around the globe designed to protect consumers from the risks of pirated and counterfeit software.
The harm done to consumers by pirated software is clearer now than ever before. Microsoft has experienced a surge of voluntary reports – more than 150,000 in the past two years – from people who unwittingly purchased counterfeit software riddled with viruses or malware. One of the most notable attributes of these reports is that the largest percentage – more than one-quarter– came from consumers in China.
China has struggled with software piracy for many years. Still, despite the efforts of the Chinese government, the software piracy rate in China stands today at 80 percent. We have long had a sense of what this means in terms of losses not only to Microsoft, but also to the Chinese economy; published studies indicate that lowering the piracy rate by 10 points would create more than $20 billion in economic growth, over 300,000 new jobs, and $1.5 billion in taxes for the Chinese economy each year.
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Defending Patent Quality
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Posted by Horacio Gutierrez
Deputy General Counsel
As the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Monday in Bilski v. Kappos – a case to determine what types of business methods should be eligible for patent protection – Microsoft issued the following statement:
“Microsoft has urged the Supreme Court to reaffirm its precedents holding that mere abstract ideas like those claimed in the Bilski patent cannot, and should not, be patentable. Because the Bilski patent does not relate to a computer-implemented invention, reaffirming the appropriate standard for patent eligibility set by the Supreme Court in prior cases should not have an adverse effect on commercial software companies that, like Microsoft, have built up a diverse portfolio of high quality patents that reflect strong investment in innovation.”
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A Welcome Change of Direction at the US Patent Office
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Posted by Horacio Gutierrez
Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel
I would like to commend USPTO Director David Kappos for the decision to rescind the proposed rules on continuation applications and claims originally published in the Federal Register in August 2007. In particular, I welcome the motivation behind the decision to ensure that patent rules are in place “that are responsive to its applicants’ needs and help bring their products and services to market.” In that spirit we look forward to working with Director Kappos to effectively address the concerns that gave rise to the proposed rules – namely to improve examination efficiency, enhance the quality of examination, and manage the growing backlog of unexamined applications.
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A Solid Step Forward in the Road to Sensible Patent Reform
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Posted by Horacio Gutierrez
Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel
I want to take a moment to commend Commerce Secretary Gary Locke for his letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee supporting balanced patent reform legislation that benefits all segments of American industry.
We support the administration’s thoughtful approach to a balanced patent reform discussion and remain strongly committed to working with Congress, the administration and other stakeholders in all industries to make sensible patent reform legislation a reality in the short term.
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Improving Global Patents: Think Locally, Act Globally
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Posted by Horacio Gutierrez
Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel
In early August, David Kappos was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. We congratulate Dave on his new position and offer our full support in tackling the challenges ahead – not the least of which is to bring the patent system into the 21st Century. As Dave knows well from his many years of experience in the U.S. and abroad, when faced with huge challenges, unique opportunities arise.
Big challenges certainly confront the global patent system: Escalating patent application backlogs; lengthening pendency periods; increasing costs of patent prosecution; dubious patent quality due to the global explosion of prior art and the time allowed to examine applications; and examination inefficiency due to duplication of work by multiple offices.
But these challenges also present unprecedented opportunity. One of the biggest is the opportunity to advance patent harmonization.
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Collaboration, Competition and IP in the Real World
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Posted by Horacio Gutierrez
Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel
In the last few days Microsoft has made a number of announcements that reflect the pragmatic approach the company takes on intellectual property rights and open source software.
- On July 20, Microsoft announced the release of 20,000 lines of device driver code to the Linux community. The code, consisting of three Linux device drivers, was licensed under the GPLv2 license and submitted to the Linux kernel community for inclusion in the Linux tree.
- Similarly, on July 21, Microsoft announced the release of the Microsoft Live Services Plug-in to integrate Microsoft’s Live@edu services with the Moodle course management system. This plug-in is a free download specifically designed for Moodle, and was also licensed under the GPLv2 license.
- Earlier, on July 15th, Microsoft announced a patent agreement with Melco Group, maker of the Buffalo-branded devices, under which Melco’s customers receive patent covenants for their use of devices running Linux and related open source software, in exchange for the payment of royalties to Microsoft.
Some observers question how a company can contribute to open source projects while, at the same time, insisting on respect of its intellectual property rights by its competitors. In fact, these two things are not inconsistent, and striking a balance between them is one of the key things every commercial technology company must do in order to compete effectively in a mixed source world.
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Global Challenges Await New Patent Office Director
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Posted by Horacio Gutierrez
Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel
Yesterday President Obama announced he intends to nominate David Kappos, vice president and assistant general counsel for intellectual property at IBM, to serve as Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. This is a huge job, managing a workforce of 9,000 employees and directing a central part of an intellectual property system that drives American innovation, economic growth and job creation.
It would be difficult to envision a new USPTO director who understands the U.S. and global patent system better than Dave Kappos. Dave’s nomination marks a return to the kind of experienced industry leadership that had often been tapped to head the agency in years past. Dave’s extensive background in all aspects of patent law and policy, and his experience managing one of the world’s largest corporate patent departments, make him well suited to take on the parallel challenges of improving patent quality and agency efficiency. We applaud his selection, and offer him our full support and commitment to work with him upon his appointment and with others in industry to tackle the challenges ahead.
The challenges the new Director will face are daunting.
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The Role of IT in Economic Recovery: Competition and Collaboration
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Posted by Horacio Gutierrez
Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Intellectual Property and Licensing
As the purveyor of hardware, software and services designed to help us all work more efficiently, the IT industry has a responsibility – now more than ever before – to help people and organizations get maximum value from their shrinking resources.
One way to do this is for IT companies to collaboratively develop computing solutions that enable different kinds of software and hardware to work together. Customers tell us this is one of the most important things we can do to help them manage their IT costs and prioritize their investments. This is particularly important for customers running “mixed source” IT operations that rely on both open source and proprietary software.
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