Microsoft Intellectual Property and Licensing

Intellectual Property Licensing Policy

To promote broader availability and use of our technologies, Microsoft may periodically publish new licensing programs on Microsoft.com. For example, the company currently maintains programs for licensing Microsoft Windows and other source code, hundreds of communication protocols, popular Microsoft Office XML schemas, and other technologies.

With respect to patents, Microsoft will generally license our patents under fair and reasonable terms so long as licensees respect Microsoft intellectual property rights. These licensing terms are similar to how others in the technology industry license their own patents, typically referred to as "commercially reasonable" terms. Where Microsoft determines to license patents, we will generally do so nonexclusively. For products that practice Microsoft patents, the royalty rates will follow industry norms. Microsoft will consider all requests for licenses but reserves the right not to license certain IP. For example, Microsoft will generally not license patents, including design patents, which differentiate the appearance of Microsoft products and services.

Application to academics. For bona-fide academic institutions, Microsoft will make available appropriate royalty-free covenants under its patents. These royalty-free covenants are intended to encourage noncommercial research and educational activities.

Application to software developer kits (SDKs). Microsoft recognizes that in the past independent software vendors (ISVs), as part of the SDK program for developing software that runs on the Windows platform, have received certain IP licenses from Microsoft. We do not expect to make changes to our existing approach of granting specific licenses to develop such software under our SDK agreements.

Application to existing standards commitments. As a major participant in many industry standards bodies, Microsoft frequently contributes technology and know-how to these organizations. Many of these organizations have well-defined policies that specify how patents and other IP should be licensed in the standard-setting context. Microsoft will continue to comply with all applicable policies when participating in industry standards processes, including the contribution of technology to standards bodies under "reasonable and nondiscriminatory" (RAND) terms, either on a for-fee, or royalty-free basis, as defined by each standards group.

This policy statement highlights current Microsoft licensing practices and is subject to change at any time, as well as to variation to conform to applicable laws and regulations.