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Microsoft calls for global patents
Summary
A senior lawyer at Microsoft is calling for the creation of a global patent system to make it easier and faster for corporations to enforce their intellectual property rights around the world.
Topics
A senior lawyer at Microsoft is calling for the creation of a global patent system to make it easier and faster for corporations to enforce their intellectual property rights around the world.
In a blog posting on Tuesday, Microsoft's Deputy General Counsel Horacio Gutierrez said that a backlog of patent applications internationally was needed to tackle the 3.5 million pending patent applications around the world — including around 750,000 in the US.
"In today’s world of universal connectivity, global business and collaborative innovation, it is time for a world patent that is derived from a single patent application, examined and prosecuted by a single examining authority and litigated before a single judicial body," said Guiterrez. "A harmonized, global patent system would resolve many of the criticisms leveled at national patent systems over unmanageable backlogs and interminable pendency periods."
Guiterrez went on to praise efforts to harmonise international patent systems through projects such ad the Patent Prosecution Highway and the "IP5" partnership but said more needed to be done to allow corporations to protect their intellectual property.
"By facing the challenges, realizing a vision, overcoming political barriers, and removing procedural obstacles we can build a global patent system that will promote innovation, enrich public knowledge, encourage competition and drive economic growth and employment," he added. "The time is now — the solutions are in reach."
Microsoft's calls to speed up the issuing of patents come shortly after the company was prosecuted in Texas for patent infringement concerning its Word application. In August, US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a permanent injunction that "prohibits Microsoft from selling or importing to the United States any Microsoft Word products that have the capability of opening .XML, .DOCX or DOCM files (XML files) containing custom XML", according to a statement released by attorneys for the plantiff, i4i.
Commenting on Microsoft's appeal of the ruling late last month. i4i chairman Loudon Owen told ZDNet UK's sister site, CNET News.com, that the software giant's attitude was "extraordinary". "It captures the hostile attitude of Microsoft toward inventors who dare to enforce patents against them," Owen said. "It is also blatantly derogatory about the court system."
Microsoft's stance on stronger software patents has attracted opposition from the open source community and other anti-patent campaigners.
The founder of the GNU Linux project Richard Stallman, recently warned against the use of Mono software tools as they exposed users to potential patent violation accusations from Microsoft. In an article published by the Free Software Foundation, Stallman said that "only fools would ignore" the threat poised by Microsoft's patents.
The UK Pirate Party, which was registered by the electoral commission last month, is also opposed to the current patent system — especially in the area of healthcare — and has put reform of the process at the center of its campaign for the next election. "Monopolies maintained by companies producing life-saving drugs mean people are dying, as they can't afford [treatment]," the party's leader Andrew Robinson told ZDNet UK last month.
Microsoft's backing for greater cooperation on the issue has the backing of other organizations. The World Intellectual Property Organization is planning to hold a conference on global enforcement of intellectual property rights in Geneva on the 17th and 18th of September. "IP systems need to keep pace with globalizing trends in innovation and business practices," the organization said in a statement. "The symposium offers stakeholders an opportunity to explore how existing highly diverse national and regional IP infrastructures can be developed to support the dynamics of innovation which is increasingly transnational and borderless."
FSF Europe and the UK Pirate Party were approached for comment but did not reply in time for this story.
This article was originally posted by ZDNet UK.
Talkback Most Recent of 22 Talkback(s)
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kd5auq2nd Sep 2009 -
Sure.. and let's use the US patent system as an example.. uhm.. NO THANKS!
There's already a system in place between participating countries where patents are "reserved" if they have been registered in another country. We don't need a "harmonized" patent system for this very reason.
And CERTAINLY, we don't need a harmonized patent system that follows the US' patent system. While the rest of the patent offices in the world have long realized that "first to invent" doesn't actually make the system any more fair than "first to register", it creates a lot more overhead when trying to grant patents (hence why there's such a backup in applications in the first place).
daftkey2nd Sep 2009 -
Why?
Software patents are nothing more than a litigation tool. They need to go. I guess I'll be trying harder to move AWAY from MS and other proprietary software that has such nonsense. The FOSS alternative isnt always the prettiest, but get enough users behind it and it will shape up. Firefox and Ubuntu isnt doing too bad. Hell Pidgin is nice too (it just needs better webcam support).
JT822nd Sep 2009 -
re: Software patents are nothing more than a litigation tool.
..and how does this differ from any other part of IP or contract law?daftkey2nd Sep 2009 -
M$ is at it again!
It's time for people to raise against the beast!
Linux Geek2nd Sep 2009 -
Fight the message, not the originator of the message..
..I'm curious, based on your other ramblings, whether you'd oppose the same call for a global patent system if it were brought up by Red Hat or Canonical..daftkey2nd Sep 2009 -
you don't get it!
Red Hat or Canonical are against patents anywhere, like everybody else.Linux Geek2nd Sep 2009 -
like everyone else?
You mean everyone interested in FOSS... Most people who toil to make a product don't want everyone and anyone else to just be able to take it and use it for free. It's called the profit motive...
Fark2nd Sep 2009 -
Come now..
"Red Hat or Canonical are against patents anywhere, like everybody else."
Okay, firstly, I'm fully aware that FOSS proponents are against patents.. You'd have to be a real idiot to "not get it".. and you'd have to be a bigger idiot to call someone out on it.. So congratulations for opening your mouth and "removing all doubt".
Secondly, I didn't say that they weren't against patents.. but anyone who thinks that patents are going away anytime soon is living in a fantasy world, which is why Red Hat registers "defensive" patents.. A global, unified patent system might make Red Hat's defensive patents easier to manage, so it wouldn't necessarily be outside of their interests to see this happen..
Thirdly, Microsoft aren't the only people who like patents.. so no.. "everybody else" aren't against patents, either..daftkey2nd Sep 2009 -
Indeed; i4i likes patents too.
But I'm sure that MS would have factored that into its calculations.
Zogg2nd Sep 2009 -
If the suggestion...
If the suggestion was for a global patent system based on the US patent system, Yes. This is no more or no less extreme then the "healthcare" debate. It is controversial not because of what it proposes, but because it opens up the potential for the entire world IP system to be as broken as ours.
Socratesfoot3rd Sep 2009 -
No, you mean IBM
Surely you know the difference.
No_Ax_to_Grind2nd Sep 2009 -
So, you're saying that...
This Microsoft guy is really a stooge for IBM? That Microsoft itself is a mere front for IBM? WHo knows, maybe Oracle, Google and RedHat are just tools of IBM. Maybe you are the only one who knows the truth! Mayhaps IBM itself is all controlled by Apple. Wow, the possibilities are endless!
zkiwi2nd Sep 2009 -
RE: Microsoft calls for global patents
Stupid idea.
uofamjon@...2nd Sep 2009 -
Monkey Boy and his croanies...
smoking crack again. Nothing new or surprising here.
Dave322652nd Sep 2009
Talkback - Tell Us What You Think
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