REDMOND, Wash. — Sept. 16, 2008 — The following agreements represent milestones in the five-year history of Microsoft’s Intellectual Property Licensing program, which has 500 IP agreements to date. For more information on this program, please see the Microsoft Intellectual Property Web site.
Sept. 16, 2008,
Pioneer
(Tokyo): The cross-licensing agreement with Pioneer covers a broad range of consumer products, including auto navigation products and televisions, as well as Microsoft’s software products. Microsoft has entered into similar patent cross-licensing agreements relevant to auto navigation in the past 12 months with Kenwood and Alpine, both industry leaders.
Aug. 27, 2008,
Nikon
(Tokyo): Microsoft’s patent cross-licensing agreement with Nikon will further the development of digital cameras as well as a broad range of other consumer products each company manufactures and sells. The companies have a long history of collaborating to bring high-quality, cutting-edge consumer products to the market, including wireless cameras and RAW processing technologies.
July 10, 2008,
PlanetEye
(Toronto): PlanetEye licensed intellectual property (IP) from Microsoft and collaborated with the company’s research and development teams, along with Canadian entrepreneurs and two venture capitalists, to bring to market a unique and comprehensive travel-planning service for travelers. PlanetEye launched an innovative online travel planning service powered by Microsoft’s groundbreaking technology World Wide Media eXchange (WWMX).
June 18, 2008,
Zignals
(Dublin, Ireland): Microsoft joined Zignals, a startup company, in announcing the launch of a beta online service set to transform investing for the active trader. Zignals was created through the collaboration of the Microsoft IP Ventures team, Enterprise Ireland, successful entrepreneurs Pat Brazel and Scott Tattersall, Manresa Partners, and angel investors.
April 28, 2008,
Beijing Komoxo Mobile Software Inc.
(Beijing): This patent licensing agreement is the first of its kind between Microsoft and a China-based company, and is a testament to both the quality of Microsoft’s patent portfolio and its commitment to working with China-based companies.
Dec. 12, 2007,
Samsung Electronics America Inc.
(Irvine, Calif.): Samsung Electronics America Inc., a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Corporation, announced the release of its new eight-inch Digital Photo Frame SPF-83V, based on technology developed by Microsoft Research. Along with the technology licensed from Microsoft Research, the Samsung frame communicates with Windows Media Player and open standards such as RSS. The product is a result of a long-standing collaboration between Microsoft and Samsung Electronics, including a patent cross-licensing agreement signed by the two companies in April 2007.
Oct. 22, 2007,
Turbolinux
(Tokyo): Microsoft and Turbolinux, a leading Linux client and server distributor in Japan and China, announced a business agreement that expands on their recent collaborations. The deal advances interoperability, furthers research and development collaboration, and provides IP assurances for Turbolinux users.
Aug. 15, 2007,
Activated Content
(Seattle): Microsoft announced that it is licensing the audio watermarking technology developed by its Redmond, Wash., research lab to Activated Content Corp., a leading digital technology and application services company in the audio watermarking market, based in Seattle.
Aug. 14, 2007,
Xandros-Scalix
(New York): Microsoft and Linux platform provider Xandros announced a messaging protocol license and collaboration agreement that will enhance the interoperability of Scalix e-mail servers with various mobile and personal computer-based e-mail applications that utilize Microsoft e-mail protocols. This agreement expands on the ongoing Microsoft-Xandros collaboration.
Aug. 2, 2007,
Apple
(Cupertino, Calif.): At TypeCon2007, Microsoft and Apple announced they renewed their font licensing agreement, giving Apple users ongoing use of the latest versions of Microsoft Windows core fonts. Under the agreement, Apple and Microsoft are extending the seamless Web and software experience Apple users have enjoyed for years when using and viewing popular Microsoft fonts such as Times New Roman, Arial and Verdana.
June 6, 2007,
LG Electronics
(Seoul, South Korea): Microsoft and LG Electronics (LGE) announced that they have entered into a patent cross-licensing agreement to further the development of the companies’ current and future product lines. Microsoft has focused on patent agreements in the recent past to develop a best-practices model for protecting intellectual property (IP) and respecting the IP rights of others, as well as building bridges with an array of industry leaders, including consumer electronics, telecommunications and computer hardware providers.
March 26, 2007,
Zumobi
(previously ZenZui) (Seattle): Microsoft announced the launch of ZenZui, later renamed Zumobi, an independent company with the mission of transforming the way people engage, consume and interact with Web content through a revolutionary mobile user experience and information ecosystem. Zumobi’s Zooming User Interface, a technology patented by Microsoft, was initially developed by the Microsoft Research lab in Redmond, Wash. Microsoft’s IP Ventures helps startups and growing companies speed their time to market through access to Microsoft innovations. Zumobi worked with IP Ventures to acquire the technology and assistance in securing venture capital funding to help launch its company.
March 22, 2007,
Fuji Xerox
(Tokyo): Fuji Xerox Co. Ltd. (Fuji Xerox) and Microsoft announced a broad patent agreement for the purpose of allowing access to each company’s respective patent portfolios and accelerating research and development. Fuji Xerox, which is owned by FUJIFILM Holdings Corp. and Xerox Corp., is a leading investor in research and development relating to document management systems and maintains a broad patent portfolio, including patents in the United States and in Japan.
Nov. 2, 2006,
Novell
(Waltham, Mass.): Microsoft and Novell Inc. announced a set of broad business and technical collaboration agreements to build, market and support a series of new solutions to make Novell and Microsoft products work better together. The two companies also announced an agreement to provide each other’s customers with patent coverage for their respective products. These agreements will be in place until at least 2012. Under this new model, customers will realize unprecedented choice and flexibility through improved interoperability and manageability between Windows and Linux.
Feb. 6, 2006,
Sony Ericsson
(London): Microsoft announced that Sony Ericsson has licensed the Exchange ActiveSync protocol to enable more secure, wireless direct synchronization between Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 and Sony Ericsson’s P990 and M600 phones.
May 5, 2005,
IP Ventures
(New York): Microsoft launched Microsoft IP Ventures, a program designed to spin out and license Microsoft Research technology to entrepreneurs and companies in order to foster innovation and new product development.
April 11, 2005,
Inrix
(Kirkland, Wash.): Inrix, a Pacific Northwest-based technology company, licensed predictive, real-time traffic technology from Microsoft Research to build its business around the technology that will enable the delivery of the next generation of traffic information services. The agreement was among Microsoft’s first IP Ventures deals.
Feb. 14, 2005,
Nokia
(Helsinki, Finland): Microsoft and Nokia announced a collaboration to help ensure consumers can enjoy digital music anywhere. This agreement includes long-term collaboration on digital media format support for Nokia handsets and Windows Media Player.
May 3, 2004,
Siemens AG
(Berlin and Munich, Germany): Siemens AG and Microsoft announced a broad cross-licensing agreement to allow expanded access to the patent portfolios each company holds. This licensing agreement with Siemens builds upon Microsoft’s recently announced intellectual property (IP) policy by underscoring Microsoft’s commitment to expand cross-licensing initiatives and make it possible for others to license aspects of the company’s growing R & D efforts and existing IP portfolio.
April 2, 2004,
Sun Microsystems
(San Francisco): Microsoft and Sun Microsystems Inc. announced the companies have entered into a broad technology collaboration arrangement to enable their products to work better together and to settle all pending litigation between the two companies. The companies also entered into agreements on patents and other issues.
Dec. 3, 2003,
Microsoft IP licensing policy
(Redmond, Wash.): In December 2003, Microsoft announced it was expanding its intellectual property (IP) policy to provide the IT industry with increased access to the company’s growing IP portfolio, signaling to the public that the company is “open for business” when it comes to IP Licensing. Since that time, Microsoft has continued to develop programs that make it possible for customers, partners and competitors to access its IP portfolio, and explore new avenues to support a vibrant and collaborative IP marketplace.
