In the past, we were conservative. [I]f a partner is sued [now], we're picking up the full defense cost tab. |
It was our way of saying we're open for business. We wanted to signal the fact that we're moving from a more trade secret-reliant company to a more patent-reliant company. |
Microsoft didn't have enough chips on the table. |
Our policy is to allow others to license our patents so they can use our innovative methods in their products. |
This result underscores the validity of these patents but also the importance of allowing third parties to request re-examination. |
This speaks to why indemnification is so important for this channel: It is one where we allow changes to our software and this makes offering indemnification more challenging. |
We now have more clarity on that [prior art] issue for them. |
We really feel that there's a litigation lottery. People roll the die and hope that their number comes up big. |