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News >> Technology >>
MS expands legal team to fight piracy
By agencies
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Monday, 03 October 2005, 19:30 IST
HYDERABAD: India faces the challenge of converting the large IQ (intelligence quotient) of its human resources into IP (intellectual property) with a focus on products, and not just services, a business newspaper reported.
This will help the country garner a bigger chunk of the global market. However, for any company to win market overseas its products must first make a mark locally, according to the Senior Vice-President and General Counsel for Microsoft Corporation, Bradford L. Smith, the Business Line reported.
Smith said, "With piracy ranging from anywhere between 21 percent in the U.S. and 73 plus percent in India, the legal team at Microsoft Corporation is fully engaged addressing this complexity from a large corporation, functioning in 100-plus countries. Copy culture is a problem area."
"From the corporation's perspective, about 350 lawyers, who are part of a support team of 900-para legal staff, and assisted by 400 law firms worldwide help address issues relating to 102 subsidiaries across the world. We see India as a major market and expect to expand the legal team," he explained.
"It is challenge to tackle legal issues, protecting IP and addressing anti-trust issues brought up against Microsoft. Typically, local partners support the legal team at Microsoft headquarters. It is not easy to understand local issues unless we have partners, since every country has its own set of laws. Even in the U.S., we are articulating a case to bring reforms in the U.S. patent regime," the paper quoted him.