Microsoft said its willingness to file patents on its planned Indigo Web-services technology will not affect the software"s ability to interoperate with other vendors" software. Developers, meanwhile, will not need to pay license fees to build an application that calls on Indigo, the company added. Planned for inclusion in the Longhorn client version of Windows in 2006, Microsoft bills Indigo as a new breed of communications infrastructure based on Web services, with interoperability being a key attribute.
Asked if the company planned to seek patents on Indigo, the company responded in a prepared statement. "Patents are a normal part of doing business -- one that is essential for organizations to protect their intellectual property and be transparent about the products and technologies they build," the statement said. "To that end, Microsoft may file patents on Indigo as it does on many of our products." "The important point is that any patents Microsoft files for Indigo won"t affect Indigo"s ability to interoperate with other vendors" software," the statement also said.