Microsoft Obtains 10,000th Patent

Microsoft now holds 10,000 U.S. patents, a milestone the company attributes to an effort to maximize the value of its research and development.

“We feel that patents are the currency of innovation,” Microsoft’s chief patent counsel, Bart Eppenauer, told Managing Intellectual Property.

Microsoft does not hold the record for U.S. patents, however. IBM has more, and in 2008 it became the first company to receive more than 4,000 U.S. patents in one year, according to the Managing IP story.

Eppenauer predicted that Microsoft would continue to file between 2,500 and 3,000 patent applications a year.