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Microsoft Offers Greater IP Protection For OEMs

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, New York

14 February 2006

Microsoft Corp. announced last Thursday that it is seeking to strengthen and broaden intellectual property (IP) protection for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and distributors that build and sell devices powered by Microsoft Windows Embedded and Windows Mobile software.

With this expansion, according to the software giant, more than 4,000 OEMs and distributors of Windows Embedded and Windows Mobile will receive comparable IP protection to that already offered for other Microsoft flagship products.

The strengthened IP protection will be available worldwide to Microsoft’s mobile and embedded partners and will include the following:

  • The defense of OEMs and distributors against IP claims in every country in which Microsoft distributes or markets its Windows Mobile and Windows Embedded products;
  • Protection of patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret claims based on Windows Mobile and Windows Embedded software; and
  • Removal of the monetary cap related to defense costs.

OEMs and distributors currently use Windows Embedded and Windows Mobile software to build devices such as Smartphones, Portable Media Centers, automated teller machines, retail point-of-sale systems, Global Positioning System-based devices, industrial robots and thin clients.

However, several high-profile IP disputes have raised the importance embedded device-makers and distributors attach to careful IP risk management, and IP indemnification is increasingly seen as a key reason to build devices using commercial software offerings such as Windows Embedded and Windows Mobile.

“Intellectual property litigation has been increasing steadily for the last several years. As a result, indemnification against this litigation not only has become a requirement for any technology purchase, it strongly pushes companies toward the buy side of the build-versus-buy decision,” Rob Enderle, principal analyst for the Enderle Group, observed.

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