Be aware - some algorithms described in publications on research.microsoft.com can be patented by microsoft (and this fact not referred in publication itself, google patent search can be useful for this).
Isn't there a requirement to mark every publication of a patented idea? Did Microsoft just invalidated those patents? (Do they even know what patents apply?)
I'm not an academic, but I read a lot of scholarly publications in computer science and I have never seen a single reference to a patent in any of them. Usually I only discover that something is patented or patent pending later, after some heavy Googling.
I copied down this quote from somewhere earlier this year but I can't find the source now: "One of the things they tell us developers here at Microsoft is that we should never read any patents. That's because you're liable for triple damages if you knowingly infringe on a patent."
Yes, I went through that training, and that's an accurate summation of the commandments given. Do not peruse patent databases because it only takes one person at Microsoft reading the patent, and someone else totally unrelated infringing, to turn a simple "oops" into "knowing infringement".
Very secretly. On a serious note, I wonder what would it mean to implement a patented algorithm (patented in US where it's possible) in a country where it's not possible to patent software, like anywhere in EU. I presume it would mean you couldn't sell your software in US and that's about it?
Isn't there a requirement to mark every publication of a patented idea? Did Microsoft just invalidated those patents? (Do they even know what patents apply?)