Senior executives from Lenovo Group Ltd. and Microsoft Corp.
signed an intellectual property agreement on Monday at the US
company’s Seattle headquarters in a deal potentially worth US$1.2
billion over the next 12 months. The two companies have joined
forces to promote the use and benefits of authentic Microsoft
software products in China and other 65 countries around the
world.
Lenovo chairman, Yang Yuanqing, described the contract as being
"the largest intellectual property agreement" the industry was
aware of and in China alone it could be worth as much as US$200
million.
"Today marks a new milestone for the two companies' cooperation
by extending the partnership to a global level and at the same time
deepening the level of cooperation," Yang said at the ceremony.
Microsoft and Lenovo agreed to sign up for what is being called
"strategic cooperation" to coincide with President Hu Jintao's official visit to the US
which started yesterday.
The two companies had made up their minds on the way forward
after a six month trial of a “value-added software program" under
which Lenovo pre-installs genuine Microsoft Windows operating
systems on many of their product lines.
"I believe that improved intellectual property tights protection
in China will create more favorable conditions for China-US
cooperation in the software area," Vice Premier Wu Yi in a speech at the ceremony.
"Working together with Microsoft we have made it easy for our
joint customers to get the reliability, service and support only
available from genuine software and the pricing is competitive,"
Yang said.
"By taking the lead in providing genuine value-added software on
PCs in China, Lenovo is demonstrating foresight and wisdom as a
responsible global industry leader," said Bill Gates, chairman and
chief software architect of Microsoft.
"Microsoft commends Lenovo for recognizing the importance of
intellectual property rights and the value of genuine software,” he
said. “We will continue to work with Lenovo and other industry
partners to ensure that customers get the greatest value and
performance from their PCs."
The signing of the agreement has won endorsement from the
Chinese government.
(China Daily April 19, 2006)
