Indemnification for Embedded Partners

Companies that manufacture or distribute devices with any Windows Embedded OS (including Windows CE, Windows XP Embedded, and Windows Embedded for Point of Service) or Windows Mobile software are now covered by Microsoft’s intellectual property (IP) indemnification policy. If a manufacturer or distributor is sued over copyright, patent, trademark, or trade-secret violations within these products, Microsoft will assume their legal defense and pay all legal fees. Microsoft will also help cover the cost of any legal judgment stemming from such claims, but will cap this coverage at the amount the manufacturer or distributor has paid Microsoft to license the software during the prior two-year period.

There are some exceptions to the policy: most notably, if customers or resellers alter any Microsoft software, Microsoft may choose not to indemnify this software. This is important for Windows CE because Microsoft allows device makers to create and redistribute derivatives, which are not automatically covered. However, Microsoft encourages partners and customers to notify it of any IP claim involving Microsoft software—even if it falls outside the scope of the company’s indemnification policy, Microsoft might choose to cover it anyway.