Microsoft revs its patent machine
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Company is prolific filer of patent applications, including those for exotic technologies such as a washable keyboard and software that responds to your emotions.
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IBM (NYSE: IBM) is taking the wraps off of its proprietary software technology, releasing 500 patents to open source developers and challenging its I.T. competitors to follow suit.
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In unlikely combination, U.S. government and advocates of free and open-source software are backing Microsoft in patent spat with AT&#38;T.
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(InfoWorld) - Any U.S. high school student who has struggled through verb conjugations in Spanish class knows how hard it can be to keep all of the verb forms straight when trying to learn a new language. Now Microsoft Corp. has filed a patent for a technology that may help by automatically conjugating verbs in various languages. According to a patent application Microsoft filed Aug. 31, 2006, to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the company aims to patent a "verb conjugating system" that "allows a user to input a form of a verb and display the verb forms." The system would allow a user to input an infinitive or non-infinitive form of a verb. When a user inputs a non-infinitive form of the verb, the software would identify the corresponding base form of the verb. It then would use that base to display the forms for the verb. Other characteristics of the technology would be to provide verb forms in a certain language when a user enters a verb in that language, and to identify the exact verb when a user enters the spelling for a verb that could pertain to one or more different languages, according to the patent application. The verb-conjugating system may also allow a user to input a phrase that includes a verb, and will display the verb forms corresponding to that verb. It also may detect a misspelling of a verb form and provide suggestions for alternate spellings. According to the filing, the inventors of the technology are Microsoft employees Eric J. Voetberg, Jinsong Yu, Mark D. Stumpf and Robert E. Parkin. In an e-mail statement, David Kaefer, general manager for Microsoft Intellectual Property & Licensing, said that the patent is for software Microsoft is developing that will help people learn new languages. "Just like complex software algorithms can help a user spot flawed grammar or autocorrect spelling, software can help us learn new languages, and weâre building methods to do just that," he said. Kaefer did not say when the software would be completed, or if it would become an actual commercial product on its own or be integrated into another one of Microsoft's products.
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Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) is expanding its indemnification program for Windows and other software products in order to shield users from legal claims and patent
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Trying to catch up with Google, Microsoft says it will change the way computer users search.
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In another carefully timed move to garner support for its document format still under consideration for an international standard, Microsoft today altered the terms under which use of its Office Open XML format by developers is permitted.
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We didn't mean to do it Microsoft has pulled a patent application for "Object Test Bench" in Visual Studio after it was accused both of copying the idea from the BlueJ community, and of filing the patent application in the full knowledge that prior art existed.â¦
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Microsoft Corp.  is expanding its indemnification program for Windows and other software products in order to shield users from legal claims and patent disputes, the world's largest software maker said on Tuesday.
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Microsoft presented oral arguments Wednesday before the U.S. Supreme Court in a 6-year-old patent lawsuit filed by AT&T whose outcome could require U.S. software companies to pay fines for patent-infringing software assembled in other countries.
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(InfoWorld) - Computer peripheral maker Belkin said Friday it has settled a patent infringement complaintÂ brought against it by software giant Microsoft. "We are glad to have reached a settlement and we are satisfied with the outcome," said Belkin spokeswoman Melody Chalaban, who declined to provide details of the settlement terms. On Aug. 1,Â Microsoft filed a patent-infringement complaintÂ with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) that said Belkin was importing products that infringed on a Microsoft patent for peripheral device technology. According to Microsoft, Belkin uses a technology called "U2" in several of its mouse products. Microsoft's patented U2 technology enables a peripheral to automatically sense whether the device is being plugged into a PS2 or USB (Universal Serial Bus) port on a computer and then make the connection. Microsoft filed the complaint after failing to reach agreement in licensing discussions with Belkin over more than two years, said Tom Burt, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel for Microsoft, in an e-mail statement when the ITC complaint was filed. Microsoft said it filed the complaint with the ITC rather than in a U.S. court because it wanted to prevent Belkin from bringing infringing products into the U.S. in the first place. Although Belkin is a U.S. company, the products in question are manufactured outside the country, Microsoft said.
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Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) was ordered by a European Union court to change its business practices and immediately
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Microsoft today expanded its end user intellectual property protection policy to cover customers using a wider range of its software, including Windows Server System, SQL Server and Exchange Server, Microsoft Office System and the Windows client software.
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WASHINGTON - An appeals court should throw out a half-billion-dollar patent infringement judgment against Microsoft Corp. because a lower court failed to recognize that the Web browsing patent was based on a technology that was not invented by the company awarded the money, a Microsoft lawyer argued Thursday.
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The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will re-examine patents covering embryonic stem cell discoveries made by University of Wisconsin researchers.
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OCTOBER 04, 2004  - Some things are patently ridiculous. One is the US patent system, an institution in desperate need of reform.
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The acquisition by Microsoft and Time Warner of a company with a significant portfolio of patents covering digital rights management technologies generates scrutiny by European antitrust regulators. The main focus of the investigation: Microsoft. By Wendy M. Grossman.