At COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2007, Microsoft Corp. announced that it has completed the second year of its hardware intellectual property (IP) licensing initiative with a 250 percent year-over-year increase in both licensees and licensing deals executed. The Microsoft� IP licensing program encourages shared industry success by allowing licensees to incorporate innovative technologies, including U2, Tilt Wheel and Magnifier, into their products to provide features, made popular by Microsoft, to customers from third-party global suppliers at competitive prices. The program is expanding to allow contract manufacturers (CMs) and outsourced design and manufacturing firms (ODMs) to directly take a U2 license from Microsoft for their U2 product shipments to their third-party end-brand customers and thereby eliminate the need for a separate end-brand U2 license for these shipments.

Microsoft is the only peripherals supplier with a program of this kind that encourages shared technology success by allowing licensees (including CMs, ODMs and third-party end brands) to incorporate key Microsoft innovations into their products. The IP licensing program today is focused on mice and keyboards with a specific focus on the following technologies found in many third-party hardware devices on desktops around the world.