In an effort to spur more adoption of Web Services standards, Microsoft has a released a new online document called the "Open Specification Promise" (OSP).  The document allows companies to use specifications patented by Microsoft without worrying about "Microsoft Necessary Claims".  What are "Microsoft Necessary Claims"?  I asked the same question.  Here's how the document defines them:

“Microsoft Necessary Claims” are those claims of Microsoft-owned or Microsoft-controlled patents that are necessary to implement only the required portions of the Covered Specification that are described in detail and not merely referenced in such Specification. 

 The OSP document covers the following specs:

Lawrence Rosen (Rosenlaw & Einschlag and a Stanford University Lecturer in Law) sums up the benfits of the OSP best:

“I see Microsoft’s introduction of the OSP as a good step by Microsoft to further enable collaboration between software vendors and the open source community. This OSP enables the open source community to implement these standard specifications without having to pay any royalties to Microsoft or sign a license agreement. I'm pleased that this OSP is compatible with free and open source licenses.”

I'm not a legal guy by any means, but their decision to release this document seems like a good idea given all of the lawsuits that are filed these days.  It definitely is a different approach than Microsoft has taken in the past and will be something the open source community should like.  You can read the OSP document at the following URL.

http://www.microsoft.com/interop/osp/default.mspx