Groklaw Says Microsoft Patent Portfolio Now Worthless

twitter writes "P.J. concludes her look at the Bilski decision: 'you'll recall patent lawyer Gene Quinn immediately wrote that it was bad news for Microsoft, that "much of the Microsoft patent portfolio has gone up in smoke" because, as Quinn's partner John White pointed out to him, "Microsoft doesn't make machines." Not just Microsoft. His analysis was that many software patents that had issued prior to Bilski, depending on how they were drafted, "are almost certainly now worthless." ... He was not the only attorney to think about Microsoft in writing about Bilski.'"

Comments

It doesn't matter...

[nebaz]

I think Microsoft wins either way. They are not generally a patent troll company, nor are other large companies (IBM) with massive patent portfolios. If their strategy was to countersue little companies which had (somewhat) frivolous patents as a defensive measurement, they win either way. Either their patents are valid, in which case they have a good defense strategy, or they are not, and neither are the patent-troll lawsuit patents. I read somewhere it costs $10,000 or so to file a patent. This is chump change to Microsoft.

Re:It doesn't matter...

[eldavojohn]

I read somewhere it costs $10,000 or so to file a patent.

I think the costs (depending on if you qualify as a "small entity") vary on filing fees ... you should really point out that the $10k figure comes from patent lawyers you hire to make sure your patent comes through in a timely fashion. If you don't have an army of those, the smallest slip of forgetting to cross reference another patent could cost you decades. Yes, refiling and additional services listed on that page will drive the price up but a timely patent is probably worth much more than what you would save if you didn't have a patent lawyer. If it's a one time thing, I would suggest finding a firm.

This is chump change to Microsoft.

If you're applying for 10 or 20 patents a week then this isn't "chump change." It's more than likely several million dollars a year for an entity like Microsoft. I think it's still important to Microsoft because of what investors see a patent portfolio as: pure assets.

Re:It doesn't matter...

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

I think Microsoft wins either way. They are not generally a patent troll company, nor are other large companies (IBM) with massive patent portfolios.

Just because they aren't trolls doesn't mean they do not make a significant portion of their income from patent licensing. If their patents are no longer valid, then obviously their licensees are going to stop paying royalties.

While I am too lazy to dig for URLs right now, if you look, you will find that patent licensing is a huge part of IBM's business nowadays and that about a decade ago, Microsoft hired the man chiefly responsible for monetizing IBM's patent portfolio so that he could do the same for Microsoft.

So, who wants to go first?

[confused one]

So... Who wants to be the first one to try violating one of Microsoft's software patents and test it in court? Hmmm?

Re:"Microsoft doesn't make machines."

[Tastecicles]

let's have a look at the innards of my son's xbox crystal which he just drowned in orange-flavoured soda...

HDD: Seagate. No.
Processor: Intel. No.
Memory: Samsung. no.
Northbridge: NVidia. No.
GPU: NVidia. No.
various I/O, timer and controller chips: Texas Instruments. No.
Controller ports: I have no idea. Possibly not, although they are in essence, usb ports with slightly more robust terminal connections. ...in fact, I don't see one single component in there that has a Microsoft logo on it. Given that the HDD and some other components actually state "made in Taiwan" somewhere on the label, I can only conclude that the box was assembled in China. The software, on the other hand...

kernel/UI: is a multiboot system. He has the choice between the classic xbox Win2K kernel/UI (Microsoft), the extended interface that allows him to copy games directly to the HDD and do all manner of other wonderful and weird stuff to the system and play any of several thousand in situ games via any of the dozen or so emulators (almost certainly not Microsoft), and Linux (ha!).

So no, they don't make machines. Their scrollwheel mice were built by Logitech (albeit maybe to Microsoft's specification). The kernel software that shipped with the xbox classic was... well, sort of. Microsoft codeveloped NT with IBM under the label "OS/2". OS/2 died a horrible death, NT was a victim of its own success.

If the only hammer you have is a tool...

[MarkusQ]

Algorithms are not patentable in many countries. So what people do to patent them is they say that they apply for a patent on a "computer system running the algorithm described". Which is a reasonable thing to do since it's pretty hard to run algorithms on a sheet of paper these days.

The counter attack there being the "not obvious" leg of patentablity. Using a tool for it's intended purpose is considered obvious, and therefore not patentable. Since running algorithms is what computers do, by definition, it's a short step to an "obvious, therefore not patentable" attack.

Basically, the argument is if you have a nail that isn't patentable and a hammer that was specifically designed to hit nails with then hitting the nail with the hammer is obvious and not patentable.

--MarkusQ

Re:"Microsoft doesn't make machines."

[lenester]

OS/2 died a horrible death

Truly horrid... it died for lack of Windows compatibility. And it lacked Windows compatibility because Microsoft was able to convince a judge that Windows 95 was a new and unique product, not covered under the settlement order requiring Microsoft to hand over their API code (enforced through WFW3.11, including win32s).

I might still be using it today, otherwise.