The legal battle over CRM and cloud computing technologies between Microsoft and SaaS CRM provider Salesforce.com came to a peaceful end Wednesday as the two companies announced an agreement that will allow access to portions of both providers’ patent portfolios.
While specific details of the agreement were not disclosed, Microsoft said in a press release that ”the cases have been settled through a patent agreement in which Salesforce.com will receive broad coverage under Microsoft’s patent portfolio for its products and services as well as its back-end server infrastructure during the term.” The length of the term was not specified. “Also as part of the agreement,” the statement continued, “Microsoft receives coverage under Salesforce.com’s patent portfolio for Microsoft’s products and services.”
In addition, Microsoft indicated that it will be compensated by Salesforce.com in the areas of operating systems, cloud services, and CRM software, but did not divulge a specific monetary amount. No word today on whether Salesforce.com will receive any monetary consideration from the settlement.
The agreement ends what could have been a drawn-out dispute between the two parties.