Microsoft owns patents for a ton of software and hardware products and recently it announced a new web tool where anyone can search for patents owned by the company. Today, Microsoft launched a new video that puts a spotlight on two of its employees that have been awarded patents in celebration of the annual World Intellectual Property Day.
The United Nations' World Intellectual Property Organization has named April 26 as World IP Day "with the aim of increasing general understanding of IP." Microsoft's video on YouTube has Asta Roseway from Microsoft Research talking about how she felt when she was awarded her first patent for her work on the "Spectator Experience" feature that was added as part of Microsoft's Xbox console. In fact, that very patent, which was granted in 2006, was Microsoft 5,000th patent to be approved in the U.S.
The video also features Ali Khan from Microsoft's Server and Tools division as he talks about being awarded a patent for his work on the "Navigation Communication With Self-Identifying Elements". The patent was granted in 2008 and was made for software that can communicate with online services inside automobiles.
Both Roseway and Khan talk about the excitement they felt when they were told they had been awarded patents, with Roseway adding that her father had also been awarded a couple of his own patents when he was an engineer at General Motors. Microsoft gives employees who have been granted patents a small black cube with their name, the patent's name and the date as a reward for their efforts.
Source: Microsoft
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