Salesforce.com and Microsoft settle patent lawsuit

Two months ago Microsoft filed a federal lawsuit against Salesforce.com stating that the online CRM software company was infringing on nine patents which were granted to Microsoft between 1997 and 2007. Microsoft said they they first notified Salesforce.com of this infringement over a year ago.

Ironically Microsoft are often on the receiving end of patent lawsuits however when they believe that another company are infringing on their patents they will attempt to reach a licensing agreement outside the court system. In this instance Microsoft and Salesforce.com have settled the patent infringement they each brought before the US District Court. Horacio Gutierrez, corporate Vice President and deputy general counsel of Intellectual Propert and Licensing at Microsoft said : “We are pleased to reach this agreement with Salesforce.com to put an end to the litigation between our two companies.”

The agreement means that Salesforce.com will receive broad coverage under Microsoft's patent portfolio for its products and services as well as the back end server infrastructure during the term. Microsoft in exchange will receive coverage under Salesforce.com's patent portfolio for its own products and services. The fine details of the agreement were not publically released after the settlement however both parties have stated that Microsoft are being compensated.

KitGuru says: A pleasant end result for both companies involved.

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