Lohr, Steve. 2004. "Pursuing Growth, Microsoft Steps Up Patent Chase." New York Times (30 July). "Microsoft said on Thursday that it planned to increase its storehouse of intellectual property by filing 50 percent more patent applications over the next year than in the previous 12 months. Microsoft, the world's largest software company, increasingly regards the legal protection of its programming ideas as essential to safeguarding its growth opportunities." "Speaking at the company's yearly meeting with financial analysts, Bill Gates, the company's chairman, called patents a "very important part" of what he termed the "cycle of innovation" that has been responsible for Microsoft's past prosperity and continued corporate health." "Microsoft's stepped-up patent program, analysts say, will be watched closely in the industry to see if the company uses it mainly as a defensive tactic or as an offensive weapon to try to slow the spread of open source products." "Microsoft, Mr. Gates said, intends to file more than 3,000 patents in its 2005 fiscal year, which began this month, up from about 2,000 patent filings in fiscal 2004. It typically takes three years or more before a filed patent is approved. Today, Microsoft trails well behind I.B.M. and several other hardware makers in the size of its patent portfolio." "Mr. Gates cited research showing Microsoft patents are cited as "prior art," or examples of existing knowledge, in other patent filings somewhat more often than the patents of other technology companies, including Oracle, Sun Microsystems, Apple and I.B.M."
-- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University michael at ecst.csuchico.edu Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901
