Posted by Brendon LynchChief Privacy Officer, Microsoft
Last week, we launched a consumer privacy awareness campaign to educate people about the tools and technologies Microsoft provides to help protect their personal information online.
[Read more...]
Posted by Jeff MeisnerEditor, Microsoft on the Issues
On Tuesday, Microsoft and Politico hosted an interactive conversation addressing how innovative technologies are changing the policy and practice of health care. The discussion addressed the role technology can play in improving and changing health care, focusing on topics such as mobile medical apps and doctor-patient communication.
Posted by Fred HumphriesVice President, U.S. Government Affairs, Microsoft
Today, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued its “Special 301” report. This annual review of the state of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection and enforcement around the world identifies both the progress and continuing challenges that exist with respect to IPR enforcement. In an unusual step, the Administration today designated Ukraine as a “priority foreign country” (PFC) which begins an investigation leading to possible sanctions consistent with trade statutes. Software piracy was identified as one of three issues that led to the designation.
PFC designation is a serious tool in IPR enforcement.
IPR protection is one of the key drivers of sustained economic growth and innovation, and Ukraine has enormous potential in this area. In July last year, Team quadSquad from Ukraine won the Imagine Cup, a world-wide competition sponsored by Microsoft for its winning project, Enable Talk, a software solution that transforms sign language into a form of verbal communication through sensor-equipped gloves and a mobile device. Without question, Ukraine has some of the best and brightest engineers and software developers who would benefit from a robust IPR regime.
Posted by Brad SmithGeneral Counsel & Executive Vice President, Legal & Corporate Affairs, Microsoft
The NASDAQ Stock Market dedicated yesterday’s market close to Kids In Need of Defense.
Founded by Microsoft and Angelina Jolie in 2008, KIND’s mission is simple – ensuring due process and legal representation for unaccompanied children in immigration proceedings in the United States. The opportunity to ring the Closing Bell provided a moment in time to highlight the urgent need for more pro bono attorneys.
Every year, thousands of lone children arrive in the United States, seeking safety and stability. They have fled their homes, countries and persecution, as well as severe abuse, abandonment, violent conflict, desperate poverty, forced marriage and female genital mutilation, among other hardships.
Many are teenagers. Some are as young as two years old. Many have suffered in ways that no child should ever have to.
It’s easy for us to overlook the role intellectual property can play in improving lives when it contributes to the arts and technology. Patents not only protect new ideas, but also provide an avenue for technology advancements to reach the broader industry, where they are often built upon and grow into even more advanced solutions. Every year on April 26, the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) invites inventors large and small to take some time to remind ourselves what thinkers and doers can do when they put their minds to it.
Today, Microsoft marks World IP Day by sharing a closer look at two of our inventors who push the envelope with creative inventions. Asta Roseway from Microsoft Research, known for her work on the “Printing Dress”, shares the background of her first patent for a cinematic gaming invention “Spectator Experience,” and Ali Khan from Server and Tools describes the work behind his patent to improve wireless data transmission.