Microsoft calls for global patent reform

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 3 Sep 2009 at 09:50

Microsoft has called for a global patents system intended to make it easier for large companies to enforce their intellectual property rights around the world.

"In today's world of universal connectivity, global business and collaborative innovation, it is time for a world patent that is derived from a single patent application, examined and prosecuted by a single examining authority and litigated before a single judicial body," writes Microsoft's deputy general counsel Horacio Gutierrez on the Microsoft blog.

"A harmonised, global patent system would resolve many of the criticisms leveled at national patent systems over unmanageable backlogs and interminable pendency periods."

It is time for a world patent that is derived from a single patent application, examined and prosecuted by a single examining authority

Gutierrez claims the building of a new global patent framework would help improve competition: "By facing the challenges, realising a vision, overcoming political barriers, and removing procedural obstacles we can build a global patent system that will promote innovation, enrich public knowledge, encourage competition and drive economic growth and employment," he adds.

The comments come as Microsoft tries to overturn an injunction against Word which would see the software stripped from the shelves. A court found that Microsoft had wilfully infringed a patent relating to the creation of custom XML documents owned by Canadian company i4i.

Analysts suspect Microsoft's call for greater patent protection and the lawsuit are not unrelated: "It is interesting that Microsoft's own patent portfolio didn't provide the protection it was supposed to against i4i. This company isn't a patent troll and yet Microsoft wasn’t able to use its own patents to prevent the company from moving forward," Rob Enderle, principal analyst of Enderle Group told PC Pro.

However, Microsoft's desire to strengthen patent law is likely to meet fierce criticism, not least from the UK Pirate Party which hopes to abolish patents - something party leader Andrew Robinson described as "a way for companies to lay claim to large areas of innovation".