Azure IP Advantage Offers Patent Indemnification

Azure IP Advantage extends patent infringement indemnification to customers running workloads on Azure hosted services. Patent indemnification lowers the legal risk of using Azure services, and therefore, it may differentiate Azure from the competition. Such indemnification will be especially valuable if patent infringement cases against hosted services increase. Although patent indemnification is available to all Azure users, some protections, including the ability to use designated Microsoft patents to defend an infringement claim, depend on meeting specific requirements, including minimum billing thresholds for extended periods.

Azure IP Advantage

Azure IP Advantage has three components:

• Uncapped indemnification for patent infringement lawsuits, including lawsuits involving the use of open source software incorporated into Azure services
• A springing license to any Microsoft patent transferred to a non-practicing entity
• The ability to pick from 10,000 Microsoft-identified patents