"What goes around comes around"

Here we go. It is happening again, hopefully contributing to Microsoft's realisation that owning mathematics can harm the company as much as it can help is fight Free software, using those paid-for new laws.

This time it's RoundTable which strikes first.

Microsoft Hit With Patent Suit Over RoundTable

[...]

According to FullView, Microsoft became aware of the relevant patent or predecessor patents in 2003, before the patent was actually awarded to FullView in March 2004. Microsoft in fact cites the patent, number 6,700,711, in a patent application it filed in 2002.

More such unpleasant incidents will hopefully come in Microsoft's direction in the future. Only this way the company might learn.

Also of interest, consider this older gem from Richard Stallman about WIPO [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9] and other establishments that essentially act as fronts for their funding sources. [found in FSDaily]

Thorough discussion of enclosure must consider the international institutions that impose it. The International Monetary Fund is a well-known example; its "rescue" agreements attack the intellectual commons through "user fees" for public school, which prevent millions of poor children from attending. A less well-known culprit is the World Intellectual Property Organization, which is dominated by representatives of the businesses that own copyrights, patents, and trademarks. It seeks to impose ever-greater restrictions on a broad range of human knowledge and culture.

It continues to amaze just how much politics and economics intervene (interfere even) with science and technology. ⬆