Horacio Gutiérrez

Horacio Gutiérrez is corporate vice president and deputy general counsel in charge of Microsoft Corporation’s Products and Services legal group. He leads a team of over 200 attorneys and professionals who provide legal support and counseling to the company’s engineering, marketing and research teams. This includes all of Microsoft’s devices, software and services groups, as well as Microsoft Research, one of the largest and most respected software research organizations in the world. Gutiérrez oversees the legal strategy and execution on a wide variety of matters, including complex commercial transactions, intellectual property licensing, regulatory compliance, and issues related to the design, development, manufacturing and distribution of Microsoft’s products and services.

Prior to his current position, Gutiérrez led Microsoft’s worldwide Innovation and Intellectual Property Group. In that capacity, he managed the group responsible for the development and maintenance of the company’s IP portfolio, including all of its patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets worldwide. His department was also responsible for inbound and outbound patent licensing work, and for the strategy and substance on IP legal and public policy developments. In addition, Gutiérrez managed the team responsible for regulatory counseling and compliance in the areas of telecom, privacy, accessibility and security, as well as Microsoft’s corporate standards team worldwide.

Gutiérrez was previously based in Paris, France, where he oversaw all legal, regulatory and government affairs matters for Microsoft in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Before joining Microsoft in 1998, Gutiérrez was a member of the international practice group at the Miami office of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, where he worked on international intellectual property and competition law matters, commercial law and corporate finance legal matters. Prior to that, he was a vice president of corporate finance for a leading Latin American investment bank.

Gutiérrez is trained and has practiced law both in civil law and common law jurisdictions. He holds a Master of Laws degree from Harvard Law School, which he attended as a Fulbright Scholar; a Juris Doctor degree summa cum laude, from the University Of Miami School Of Law; a Bachelor of Laws degree from Universidad Católica Andres Bello in Caracas, Venezuela; and a Specialization in Corporate and Commercial Law from the same institution.

Gutiérrez is a member of the New York, Florida, Washington State, American, and Federal District (Venezuela) Bar Associations.