Microsoft, HP renew cross license agreement
Published:21-May-2009
By CBR staff writer
Renewal of existing agreement representing an extension of their partnership
Microsoft renewed a patent cross-license agreement with HP to enhance their R&D efforts and foster technological innovation as well as improve the overall customer experience. However, both the companies did not publicise the details of the terms of the agreement.
They have also stated that the agreement will cover different commercial products thereby granting each company greater rights to the other’s patent portfolio.
As reported in Softpedia, “One conclusion that can be drawn from the information provided by Microsoft is that the two companies have entered the agreement as equals as the software giant emphasised that the partnership “serves as a testament to the innovation taking place at the companies and the strength and breadth of their patent portfolios which are among the largest and highest-quality in the world.”
In patent law, cross-licensing gives freedom to the companies to build stronger partnerships and innovate in a more open environment.
Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, said: “Microsoft will invest this year over $9 billion in R&D to drive advances in search, intelligent applications, cloud computing, natural language and many other areas. Our goal really is to make computing more powerful, beneficial and of course accessible to more and more people.”
Watch the Microsoft Patent Portfolio Grow
Via a cross-license deal with Cadence
What do Cisco Systems, LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, NEC, Seiko Epson, Siemens AG, SAP AG and Toshiba have in common with Microsoft? The question would have been nothing whatsoever, not too long ago. But not since 2003. Four years ago, Microsoft changed its tune on proprietary technology and announced that it was starting to deal in with its intellectual property portfolio. Since that point, the results of the Redmond company's Research and Development efforts have been opened for business. An in this sense, Microsoft announced that it has inked the latest cross-license patent portfolios agreement with Cadence.
"We are pleased to further expand our collaboration with Microsoft," said R.L. Smith McKeithen, senior vice president and general counsel at Cadence. "Both Cadence and Microsoft are leaders in their respective technology space and in the software industry - we have a common interest in fostering innovation within the industry and leveraging those innovations to provide pioneering solutions for our customers. IP licensing is a collaborative way to spur innovation, and this agreement is a natural extension of this goal."
"We are delighted to be collaborating with Cadence, the world's largest maker of software used to design integrated circuits and electronic systems," said Horacio Gutierrez, vice president of Intellectual Property and Licensing at Microsoft. "IP licensing continues to benefit today's technology industry and its customers. This cross-license agreement is a perfect demonstration of how licensing IP extends the reach of modern innovations across companies."
The new partnership between Microsoft and Cadence is built on the existing relationship of the two companies. From Microsoft's perspective, cross-license patent agreements will serve to help continuing the evolution of technology innovations. The newly signed partnership means that both Microsoft and Cadence will have access to each other's patented technologies. Still, for the Redmond company, Cadence serves to improve its display of trophy patent portfolios.
