Similar to a stash of weapons a player might rack up during an online adventure game, high technology companies for more than two decades have racked up as many patents as possible.
Patents can come in handy, for instance, as a defense – or an offense—when one company sues another for patent infringement.
On the other hand, cross-licensing patents between two or more companies can cement business collaborations.
For years, IBM has been one of the most prolific tech companies in terms of piling up patents.
Now, it's Microsoft's turn.
The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers' (IEEE) IEEE Spectrum magazine listed Microsoft as the leader in new patents awarded in 2006 in its November 2007 issue. In addition, intellectual property consultancy the Patent Board this week ranked Microsoft first on its Patent Scorecard of top IT patent holders.
The software titan has racked up a total of around 8,500 U.S. patents granted, the company said this week.
Microsoft also has more than 15,000 additional patents pending, and is applying for about 3,000 per year, according to a company statement. That's partly due to the company's aggressive R&D budget—a war chest of $7.1 billion in 2007 alone. While most of that money goes to creating products, it also yields a bounty of intellectual property.
"We pursue patents on only those inventions that are in line with our business objectives and have strategic value to the company," Bart Eppenauer, Microsoft's chief patent counsel and associate general counsel, said in a statement. "Close alignment with our business strategies, goals and priorities has enabled Microsoft to become the new standard bearer for patent quality in the technology industry."
Like virtually anything having to do with Microsoft these days, defending and protecting patents and other forms of intellectual property is highly controversial. Patents can, after all, be used as weapons and also as a means of intimidation.
Last year, CEO Steve Ballmer and other executives asserted that Linux vendors, especially Red Hat, are in violation of as many as 235 of Microsoft's patents – although the company would not disclose which specific patents it believes are being infringed upon.
However, that sword can cut both ways. Last year, Microsoft settled out of court with tiny Eolas Technologies, which holds a patent that lower courts found Microsoft had infringed upon with its Internet Explorer browser.
In November 2006, in one of its most controversial patent deals to date, Microsoft signed an IP cross-licensing and collaboration deal with Linux vendor Novell. The deal was roundly criticized by other members of the open source community who claim Novell sold out by joining forces with Microsoft.
Meanwhile, in September, the European Union's Court of First Instance upheld a European Commission (EC) order that Microsoft license IP, including patents, required for interoperability with its products to competitors.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Microsoft: King of The Patent Hill
Microsoft emerges as top tech patent holder with more than 15,000 patents pending.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
When Google visited Insead's French campus in 2005, Jason Chuck was not the only MBA student to be impressed by the US internet search company. "They were the company that everyone wanted to see, to find out what they had to offer," says Mr Chuck. "They had the biggest amphitheatre, and probably got the largest crowd."
Google's recruitment team are now used to this kind of response at business schools worldwide. "We turn up on campus and are told we will get 80 students attending, but that turns into 250 or 300 regularly," says Alison Parrin, head of MBA recruitment for Google in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. "It's wonderfully, wonderfully overwhelming."
Canadian-born Mr Chuck, aged 28, now works as a product marketing manager for the company in Hong Kong.
With an engineering degree, an early career that included a spell as a telecoms engineer, and a strong continuing interest in technology, he sounds right up Google's street. But it was the broader range of skills and knowledge acquired on the MBA that also attracted the company to him.
"We are definitely a technology company, but as we grow in other areas we recognise that some of the skills learned in MBA programmes are really critical for us in a variety of different functions," says Yvonne Agyei, Google's director of global university programmes.
The company has had MBAs on its staff since its inception, she says, but in the past three years it has had a global programme to recruit them regularly. It appreciates their analytical skills and their ability to come up with new strategies. Also, the fact that they normally have work experience before doing their MBA programmes, and can then apply what they have learnt, means that they enter the company with management skills, says Ms Agyei.
For current MBA students, Google's popularity as a career choice may be due partly to its not being directly exposed to the volatility of the financial markets. However, first and foremost, it is the opportunity of what MBAs can achieve at Google that attracts them, says Ms Agyei.
"A lot of people who get MBAs want to be entrepreneurial, to run their own companies," she says. "Google is not a start-up any more, but does offer an opportunity to do that within various areas of the business, so there is a lot of appeal for MBAs."
Beyond the diverse opportunities offered by their regular jobs at Google, Ms Parrin sees a further attraction for MBA students in Google's "20 per cent time" policy, encouraging staff to work on ideas that interest them personally and which may later develop into a Google product. Google Mail (Gmail) is an example of just such a product.
Mr Chuck had been attracted to Insead in part by the strengths of its teaching on entrepreneurialism, and was able to apply the skills he had acquired when he joined Google's London office in 2006. "The office was quite small then and still had a very strong start-up feel to it," he says. "It was really up to us to shape the strategy."
Google's recruitment team are now used to this kind of response at business schools worldwide. "We turn up on campus and are told we will get 80 students attending, but that turns into 250 or 300 regularly," says Alison Parrin, head of MBA recruitment for Google in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. "It's wonderfully, wonderfully overwhelming."
Canadian-born Mr Chuck, aged 28, now works as a product marketing manager for the company in Hong Kong.
With an engineering degree, an early career that included a spell as a telecoms engineer, and a strong continuing interest in technology, he sounds right up Google's street. But it was the broader range of skills and knowledge acquired on the MBA that also attracted the company to him.
"We are definitely a technology company, but as we grow in other areas we recognise that some of the skills learned in MBA programmes are really critical for us in a variety of different functions," says Yvonne Agyei, Google's director of global university programmes.
The company has had MBAs on its staff since its inception, she says, but in the past three years it has had a global programme to recruit them regularly. It appreciates their analytical skills and their ability to come up with new strategies. Also, the fact that they normally have work experience before doing their MBA programmes, and can then apply what they have learnt, means that they enter the company with management skills, says Ms Agyei.
For current MBA students, Google's popularity as a career choice may be due partly to its not being directly exposed to the volatility of the financial markets. However, first and foremost, it is the opportunity of what MBAs can achieve at Google that attracts them, says Ms Agyei.
"A lot of people who get MBAs want to be entrepreneurial, to run their own companies," she says. "Google is not a start-up any more, but does offer an opportunity to do that within various areas of the business, so there is a lot of appeal for MBAs."
Beyond the diverse opportunities offered by their regular jobs at Google, Ms Parrin sees a further attraction for MBA students in Google's "20 per cent time" policy, encouraging staff to work on ideas that interest them personally and which may later develop into a Google product. Google Mail (Gmail) is an example of just such a product.
Mr Chuck had been attracted to Insead in part by the strengths of its teaching on entrepreneurialism, and was able to apply the skills he had acquired when he joined Google's London office in 2006. "The office was quite small then and still had a very strong start-up feel to it," he says. "It was really up to us to shape the strategy."
Friday, January 25, 2008
The Brighter Side of Bill
Melinda Gates, funnier, smarter, more fit than her husband is one half of the philanthropic team that is set to donate more than 100 billion dollars in their life time. Find out what makes her tick and where their foundation is headed.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
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