Microsoft's patent claim against Salesforce.com may only be the beginning of repeated claims against the rest of the Cloud Computing industry, according to a stark warning from Salesforce.com's CEO Marc Benioff.
Microsoft last week filed a federal lawsuit against Salesforce.com, claiming the Cloud CRM market leader has infringed on nine of its patents. Microsoft is seeking a jury trial, damages, and injunctions. Microsoft claims that Salesforce.com "has profited through infringement of the Microsoft patents-in-suit", according to the complaint, filed in federal court in Seattle.
“The reality is that these patent trolls are unfortunately just part of doing business in technology these days,” said Benioff. “They're basically the alley thugs. Every thriving economy has alley thugs, and we do, too, and that's fine. Personally, I'm just disappointed to see this from a former leader of our industry.
“I think it probably has more ramifications for other Cloud vendors than it, honestly, does for us because we're strong. A lot of other Cloud CEOs have been contacting me, and my heart goes out to them and because I feel like that's the real impact.If you go through it, you can see where this is going. There's obviously a next step here, and it's not about us, it's about others. So that's my unfortunate commentary on the state of our industry. It's just what's going on in our industry.”
He added that the situation was having “no impact” on Salesforce.com operationally. “This is not material to our day-to-day business and doesn't have any impact on our customers. I is not significant to our business even if it's a potential resolution. It's just not significant at that level,” he insisted. “It's basically a no-impact situation. It's not something that, I think, anyone needs to make anything of.”
The patents in question cover technologies such as display and user-interface features. The move is significant in part because it is only the fourth time that Microsoft has initiated a patent suit against a competitor. The last time was in 2009 when it sued GPS provider TomTom over the company's in-car navigational devices. The oldest of the nine patents dates back to July 1997, with the most recent filed in July 2007.
Microsoft said in its complaint that it's seeking unspecified damages. It also wants a court order put in place that would prevent Salesforce.com from providing features in its offering that Microsoft claims it invented. One of the nine patents that Microsoft alleges Salesforce.com has infringed is: "System and method for providing and displaying a web page having an embedded menu" while another is: "Method and system for stacking toolbars in a computer display."
"Microsoft has been a leader and innovator in the software industry for decades and continues to invest billions of dollars each year," said Horacio Gutierrez, Microsoft deputy general counsel of Intellectual Property. "We have a responsibility to our customers, partners and shareholders to safeguard that investment, and therefore cannot stand idly by when others infringe our [intellectual property] rights."
Post new Comment