Microsoft: We'll Help Customers Create Patents But We Get a License To Use Them (zdnet.com)

Microsoft outlined a new intellectual-property policy on Thursday for co-developed technology that embraces open source and seeks to assure customers it won't run off with their innovations. From a report: The shared innovation principles build on its Azure IP Advantage program for helping customers combat patent trolls. The new principles for co-developed innovation cover ownership of existing technology, customer ownership of new patents, support for open source, licensing new IP back to Microsoft, software portability, transparency, and learning. Microsoft president Brad Smith says the principles aim to assuage customers' fears that Microsoft may end up using co-developed technology to rival them.

[...] In return, Microsoft gets to license back any of the patents in the new technology but promises to limit their use to improving its own platform technologies, such as Azure, Azure AI services, Office 365, Windows, Xbox, and HoloLens. It also reserves the right to use "code and tools developed by or on behalf of Microsoft that are intended to provide technical assistance to customers in their respective businesses."

Comments

Sounds like a protection racket to me

[Rick Schumann]

That's a nice piece of tech you've got there, shame if something.. happened to it, say, from a patent troll. But your good old Uncle Microsoft is here to help you out, isn't that great? Since you're such a good guy, we don't even want anything from you -- we just want to help! -- but it would be nice if you'd let us use your technology, you know, just to make our own stuff work a little better.

Re:The irony is thick

[PolygamousRanchKid]

A patent troll saying they'll help you with patents? This is rich, even for Microsoft.

*Shrug* . . . it's basically the same deal if you work for a large enough company that has a patent department.

It's your idea . . . your name is on the patent . . . but then it says, "Assigned To: [your employer]" in the title information.

In my case, I received some cash awards for the patents . . . but who knows what they are really worth to my employer.

Re:License back?

[jellomizer]

What I find more to the point, what is the long term support of this? Say I make an innovative piece of software, however it was outside Microsoft scope, 19 years later will they still help me protect my patent?

Or say I want to license it to an other company say Apple? In that mess of legalese will I have the right to do so? And what is to say the Current Nice Guy image of Microsoft regresses back to Bully Microsoft that we seen with Gates and Balmer.