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The top lawyers for Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Oracle Corp. (ORCL), saying software patents are important drivers of U.S. innovation and economic growth, pressed Congress today to reject calls to limit that legal protection.
Companies including Google Inc. (GOOG) and Facebook Inc. (FB) have said too many software patents are being used primarily to generate lawsuits instead of contributing to new products and services. Microsoft, the world’s biggest software maker, and Oracle say discussions of ways to curtail litigation shouldn’t become an excuse to limit the ability to patent software.
“My biggest concern, and the concern of many other software companies, is that there’s going to be a move to somehow reduce or diminish protection for software,” Oracle General Counsel Dorian Daley said in an interview in Washington today. “There doesn’t seem to be any rational reason for doing that.” Microsoft and Oracle Join Forces to Defend Software Patents Against Google [bloomberg.com]
