Microsoft and Salesforce.com have settled the patent-infringement cases they filed against each other. Detailing the agreement, a statement from Microsoft read, “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. Also as part of the agreement, Microsoft receives coverage under Salesforce.com’s patent portfolio for Microsoft’s products and services.”
Though Salesforce.com is also compensating Microsoft, none of the two companies revealed the figures of the agreement. They offered one-liners to mark an end to the legal feud. “Salesforce.com is pleased to put this litigation behind us,” Jane Haynes, the company’s vice president of Communications, said.
On the other hand, Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel of Intellectual Property and Licensing at Microsoft, said, “We are pleased to reach this agreement with Salesforce.com to put an end to the litigation between our two companies.” But Gutierrez went a step further to highlight the importance of the truce. “Today’s agreement is an example of how companies can compete vigorously in the marketplace while respecting each other’s intellectual property rights,” he said.
In May, Microsoft sang a different tune - filing lawsuit against Salesforce.com alleging infringement of nine patents. Salesforce retaliated on June 24 filing suit against Microsoft, alleging that the company infringed on five of its patents. Commenting on the legal battle, Ray Wang, an analyst with the Altimeter Group, said in an interview, “The stakes are getting bigger and bigger. In the battle for the cloud, the two leaders are going to be Salesforce and Microsoft. Microsoft’s Azure is on the .NET side of the war, while Salesforce is the Java side. So you’re going to have drama.”
