Microsoft And Salesforce.com Settle Patent Infringement Lawsuits
Microsoft said in a statement that the two reached an agreement “in which Salesforce.com will receive broad coverage under Microsoft’s patent portfolio for its products and services as well as its back-end server infrastructure during the term.”
Microsoft said it, in turn, “receives coverage under Salesforce.com’s patent portfolio for Microsoft’s products and services,” as part of the agreement.
Microsoft said the specific contents of the agreement would not be disclosed. But the company said “it is being compensated by Salesforce.com based on the strength of Microsoft’s leading patent portfolio in the areas of operating systems, cloud services and customer relationship management software.”
Salesforce did not issue a statement, but a spokeswoman confirmed the settlement and said the company “is pleased to put this litigation behind us.”
Microsoft fired the first shot May 18 when it filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Salesforce.com in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. Microsoft charged that Salesforce’s on-demand CRM application infringed nine Microsoft patents.
A little more than a month later Salesforce filed a countersuit in the U.S. District Court of Delaware, charging that Microsoft products such as SharePoint and the .Net platform violate Salesforce patents.