Microsoft Says It Will Not Act On Patents In Standards

Microsoft Corporation has issued a statement that it will not seek injunctions on its “standard essential patents” in keeping with its promises to international standards organisations. It further said it will make those essential patents available for licence without condition.

The statement is here.

“Industry standards are vitally important to the development of the Internet and to interoperability among mobile devices and other computers,” Microsoft said. “The international standards system works well because firms that contribute to standards promise to make their essential patents available to others on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms. Consumers and the entire industry will suffer if, in disregard of this promise, firms seek to block others from shipping products on the basis of such standard essential patents.”

Therefore, Microsoft will: make its standard essential patents available on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms; not seek an injunction or exclusion order against any firm on the basis of those essential patents; make essential patents available for licence to other firms without requiring that those firms license their patents back to Microsoft, except for any patents they have that are essential to the same industry standard; and only transfer such patents to other firms if they agree to those terms.

Microsoft has been scrutinised in the past for potentially influencing international standards bodies (IPW, Access to Knowledge, 29 February 2008).