Microsoft on Tuesday filed a patent-infringement action against Salesforce.com in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. Microsoft claims Salesforce.com’s customer relationship management (CRM) product trespasses on nine of its patents.
The patents in question work to make CRM software more efficient. But by targeting Salesforce.com with the suit, it appears Microsoft is going for the jugular. CRM is at the heart of Salesforce.com’s business model.
Microsoft is seeking a court order that would prohibit Salesforce.com from offering features in its software suite that infringe on its patents. If Microsoft succeeds, it could damage the core of Salesforce.com’s business.
Microsoft vs Salesforce.com
“Microsoft has been a leader and innovator in the software industry for decades and continues to invest billions of dollars each year in bringing great software products and services to market,” said Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel of intellectual property and licensing. “We have a responsibility to our customers, partners and shareholders to safeguard that investment, and therefore cannot stand idly by when others infringe our IP rights.”
Salesforce.com Director of Public Relations Gordon Evans declined to comment on the lawsuit. However, the company’s recent regulatory filing mentions a “large technology company” alleging patent infringement in 2009. In the regulatory filing, Salesforce.com said it was in talks with the company.
“The resolution of this claim is not expected to have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, but it could be material to the net income or cash flows or both of a particular quarter,” Salesforce said in the filing. Unless there are additional IP-infringement allegations that have not yet been revealed, it appears that “large technology company” could be Microsoft.
Is Salesforce.com a Threat?
It’s very unusual for Microsoft to file a patent-infringement suit. In fact, Microsoft has only filed four such suits in…