Google and Microsoft Go Head to Head Over Patent System
November 13, 2011
Google is pointing their finger at Microsoft in a battle over the inner workings of the patent system. Tim Porter, Google’s patent lawyer claims the system is broken and Microsoft is abusing it.
Their strategy has been to capitalize on the large patent portfolio they’ve built up when products like Android get marginalized. They end up making money from the success of other companies’ products. Microsoft’s has responded by saying that they are benefiting because of the natural evolution of a new industry.
Ars Technica said the following in the “Google: Microsoft uses patents when products ‘stop succeeding’” article:
“The Chronicle asked Porter the obvious question: should software be patentable? Porter refused to give a straight answer “There are certainly arguments” that copyright protection is “more appropriate” for the software industry, he said. But he would only say that “the current system is broken,” and that there has been “a 10- or 15-year period when the issuance of software patents was too lax.”
Back in 1991, Bill Gates became concerned that the industry could end up in standstill if software could be patent protected in the early days because a larger company could patent an integral and common piece allowing them to take all the profit. It seems like this day has come.
Megan Feil, November 13, 2011
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