Punch number two in the Microsoft pro-IP offensive is an article today in which GC Brad Smith assures the world that the $1.5B verdict against Microsoft in a recent patent case has not soured the company on the patent system:

Regardless of the ultimate outcome in the courts, however, we are worried that policymakers and the public may draw the wrong lessons from this and other recent patent controversies, such as the dispute last year that threatened to shut down the BlackBerry wireless e-mail service. Excessive and sometimes frivolous suits might lend credence to the idea that patent litigation is getting out of hand, or even that patents should be abolished.

. . . .

Protection for software patents and other intellectual property is essential to maintaining the incentives that encourage and underwrite technological breakthroughs. In every industry, patents provide the legal foundation for innovation. The ensuing legal disputes may be messy, but protection is no less necessary, even so.

. . . .

We disagree with Alcatel-Lucent's claims, but we all benefit from its right to make them.

posted by James DeLong @ 12:49 PM | Patents

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