MCPP Patent Pledges
The Microsoft Patent Pledges for Implementations of Microsoft Communications Protocol Program Technical Specifications
NOTE: The Microsoft Communications Protocol Program (MCPP) has been superseded by other programs and is no longer available. But the Microsoft patent pledges for implementation of the MCPP technical specifications remain.
Covered Specifications
These promises apply individually to each of these specifications:
MCPP technical specifications include updates and corrections for protocols and extensions to industry-standard or other published protocols that are used by Windows Server operating systems to interoperate with Windows client operating systems (from Windows 2000 Professional up to and including Windows 8).
Patent Pledge Regarding Patent Disclosure
Microsoft irrevocably promises not to assert any Subject Patent Claims against you for making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing any implementation of a Covered Specification ("Covered Implementation"), subject to the following. This is a personal promise directly from Microsoft to you, and you acknowledge it is a condition of benefiting from it that no Microsoft rights are received from suppliers, distributors, or otherwise by any other person in connection with this promise.
"Subject Patent Claims" are those claims of Microsoft-owned or Microsoft-controlled patents that are infringed by making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing a Covered Implementation, and that are not contained in a patent or patent application that:
Is listed in the current list of patents generated for the Microsoft Communications Protocol Program Protocols ("MCPP-Legacy") via the "Patents" mapping tool ("MCPP-Legacy Patent Map") posted on the Patent Promises and Patents page.
Issues from any of the pending patent applications contained in the MCPP-Legacy Patent Map.
Issues from an application with a priority date that is after the Effective Date of the relevant MCPP-Legacy Patent Map ("New Application"), provided that Microsoft has posted an updated version of the MCPP Patent Map that contains the New Application to the MCPP website no later than 45 days after the date the New Application has been filed.
Is added to the MCPP-Legacy Patent Map following an update to the MCPP technical specifications that causes such patent or patent application to read upon the MCPP technical specifications, provided Microsoft has updated the MCPP-Legacy Patent Map that contains such patent or patent application on the "Patents" web page no later than 45 days after the date the updated MCPP technical specifications are made available to MCPP licensees.
Issues from any continuation, continuation-in-part, or divisional that has priority based upon any of the patents described in (1), (2), (3), or (4) above.
Is a reissue, renewal, substitution, re-examination, foreign counterpart or extension of any of the patents described in (1), (2), (3), (4), or (5) above.
Subject Patent Claims also do not include any claims (i) to any underlying or enabling technology that may be used or needed to make or use a Covered Implementation or (ii) to any implementation of specifications or technologies that are merely referred to in the body of the Covered Specifications.
Microsoft acknowledges that by benefiting from this promise, you are not waiving your right to contest the validity of any of the Subject Patent Claims.
This promise is not an assurance either (i) that any Microsoft-issued Subject Patent Claims covers a Covered Implementation or is enforceable or (ii) that a Covered Implementation would not infringe on patents or other intellectual property rights of any third party. No other rights except those expressly stated in this promise shall be deemed granted, waived, or received by implication, exhaustion, estoppel, or otherwise.
Patent Pledge for Open Source Developers
Microsoft irrevocably promises not to assert any Microsoft Necessary Claims against you as an open source software developer ("You") for making, using, importing, or distributing any implementation of a Covered Specification ("Covered Implementation"), subject to the following. This is a personal promise directly from Microsoft to You, and You acknowledge it is a condition of benefiting from it that no Microsoft rights are received from suppliers, distributors, or otherwise by any other person in connection with this promise. To benefit from this promise, You must be a natural or legal person participating in the creation of software code for an open source project. An "open source project" is a software development project the resulting source code of which is freely distributed, modified, or copied pursuant to an open source license and is not commercially distributed by its participants. If You engage in the commercial distribution or importation of software derived from an open source project or if You make or use such software outside the scope of creating such software code, You do not benefit from this promise for such distribution or for these other activities.
To clarify, "Microsoft Necessary Claims" are those claims of Microsoft-owned or Microsoft-controlled patents that are necessary to implement the Covered Specification. Where a software development project has in all other respects the characteristics of an open source project, distribution among the participants of that project of source code developed by natural persons under an employment contract or by natural or legal persons under a contract to develop is not considered to be commercial distribution, and that software development project does not lose its character as an open source project merely because such distribution takes place among participants. Software is deemed to be commercially distributed within the meaning of this promise when the distributor derives revenues in connection with the distribution, such as from subscriptions, updates, or user-based connection fees or from services that are contractually required for a customer to obtain the current version and/or updates of the software product in question.
This promise is not an assurance either (i) that any of the Microsoft-issued patent claims cover a Covered Implementation or are enforceable or (ii) that a Covered Implementation would not infringe on patents or other intellectual property rights of any third party. No other rights except those expressly stated in this promise shall be deemed granted, waived, or received by implication, exhaustion, estoppel, or otherwise.