Microsoft Celebrates 5,000th Patent

Published: March 8, 2006

by Alex Woodie

Microsoft recently received its 5,000th patent, granted by the US government for, of all things, a way for spectators to watch video games, and participate in them, from anywhere in the world. The company made the announcement yesterday as a way of highlighting the billions of dollars that it pours into research and development every year, and the wonderful things that come out of it.

The IT industry and customers benefit from Microsoft R&D says Brad Smith, Microsoft's top lawyer. "The 5,000th patent is a marker of the progress we have made in the past few years--building a high-quality, innovative and industry-recognized portfolio," Smith says. "Through patents, we are able to license our technologies widely to others in the industry, increasing the availability of our innovations and getting beneficial solutions in the hands of customers."

While Microsoft has come on strong in the patent department in the last few years, it's patent haul still pales in comparison next to IBM's, which totals more than 25,000 US patents. Microsoft recognizes this incredible body of work, and includes itself and IBM amongst other such industry luminaries as Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Samsung, and Sony.