The role of IPR for the software industry: A changing landscape?

This chapter presents the views of a Microsoft representative on the role of JPR for the software industry. Over the past few decades, the software industry has emerged as one of the most innovative sectors of the economy. Performance gains in computer hardware, advances in software functionality, and the growth of the Internet into an established communications and commercial medium have fueled the integration of software into nearly every aspect of modern life. Microsoft believes that JPRs have contributed to the software industry's success. Without the possibility to address free-riding through IPRs, developers would not have been able to capture some of their software's value in the marketplace, and further investment in software development would have been limited. IPRs are thus an important engine of growth and development for the software industry. Intellectual property covers various rights, among them trade secret, copyright and patent. It may well be that the role and importance of each of those rights is changing as the software industry itself evolves.