Microsoft Attorney Outlines Android Patent Tactics

Microsoft attorney Horacio Gutiérrez, in an interview with James Temple of the San Francisco Chronicle:

When you buy the device as a consumer, you get it out of the box and enjoy it immediately. What you don’t see is an invisible web of licensing and cross-licensing arrangements that actually make it possible.

So licensing is not some nefarious thing that people should be worried about. Licensing is, in fact, the solution to the patent problem that people are reacting so negatively about.

But what about a company like Apple, that isn’t interested in licensing its patents? And Apple holds patents on things like a “slide to unlock” screen. You simply can’t argue that the patent system, especially with regard to software, is not in need of reform.

★ Sunday, 30 October 2011