Microsoft has come out swinging in support of IP over the past few days.

Punch number one came last Monday, when Associate GC Tom Rubin strongly defended IP in a widely-publicized talk to the Association of American Publishers on Searching for Principles: Online Services and Intellectual Property, taking dead aim at Google's desire to digitize books with or without the copyright holders' permission (a sure crowd-pleaser in that audience). He concluded:

We as a society have a compelling interest in ensuring that those who profit from providing access to online content do not infringe the rights of content creators themselves. Rather, the content and technology industries need to work together to encourage the growth of online access to content and promote continued innovation to benefit our customers. It will require flexibility and even compromise by all parties, but the outcome will be tremendous.

The Microsoft website has a follow-up Q&A with Rubin called "Balancing Copyright Protection and Intellectual Property Rights in the Digital Age." Sample:

In order to promote innovation and online access, we need to figure out ways to reduce transaction costs of negotiations between online service providers and copyright owners. We also need to preserve the benefits of the Internet’s global reach. While online service providers must be mindful of the territorial rights of publishers, we all need to recognize that enforcing these rights in an online environment adds enormous complexity and cost. We need to work together to reach solutions to this problem that are simple and efficient. . . . .

Finally, all of us need to be open to adjusting our business models to add value for the book customer. The software industry, and especially Microsoft, has three decades of experience of having its IP threatened by the effects of cheap copying technology. We have thrived despite this, in part through strong support of IP, but also through adapting our products and business models and by taking different approaches. This same flexibility will be essential as we move into the brave new world of online books.