Still scattering patents to trolls and other entities which help Microsoft promote its protection racket, "Azure IP Advantage" [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21]

Summary: Microsoft is again scattering patents around (for profit and lawsuits), having long done that with patent trolls which attack GNU/Linux

Microsoft is reportedly selling USPTO-granted patents, potentially software patents, for patent litigation purposes. So much of a "truce" and "peace" with Linux, eh?

Microsoft recently joined the software patents apologists at OIN and LOT Network. We didn't expect that to end Microsoft's bad behaviour, especially because Microsoft publicly exploited the membership to 'sell' "Azure IP Advantage", which is basically a protection racket.

"The report itself is paywalled, but the tweets gave away the gist of it."A site sponsored by Microsoft and its trolls (several of them) has repeatedly noted in recent days that "DJI acquired US patents from Microsoft amid litigation fight with competitor" and this "deal follows Microsoft-DJI collaboration on Azure and AI for drones," according to a later note. The report itself is paywalled, but the tweets gave away the gist of it.

DJI acquired US patents from Microsoft amid litigation fight with competitor

[paywall]

That same site has meanwhile spoken about and as usual glorified patent trolls in China (article by Bob Stembridge). To these people, having been literally sponsored by trolls, trolling is a good thing. They even use the term "NPE". IAM is a really nasty propaganda site of trolls; the malicious agenda is one they're not ashamed of, presumably because they're greedy. The paywall is their way to hide from critics.

"To these people, having been literally sponsored by trolls, trolling is a good thing. They even use the term "NPE". IAM is a really nasty propaganda site of trolls; the malicious agenda is one they're not ashamed of, presumably because they're greedy."One piece that isn't paywalled is promotional propaganda from Kent Richardson (Richardson Oliver Law Group), who sells the illusion of growing demand for low-quality patents; Microsoft now sells some of these, showing that Microsoft is still a dangerous company. "The full ROL Group report on the current state of play in the brokered patent market will be published in issue 93 of IAM, available online to subscribers at the end of this month," it says. Further up it almost refutes the headline itself when it says: "Two years ago, the cover of IAM Magazine showed a beaten boxer stumbling to his feet, representing a patent market struggling to recover from the brink of disaster. With asking prices down 30%, each punch is no longer as strong as it was. But the boxer is nimbler and with 53% more transactions than two years ago, he is landing a lot more punches."

"It's just the Microsoft-Novell strategy rebranded a bit."That 'market' is still diminishing, in terms of overall value. Many companies just distribute worthless patents to trolls, many of which simply go out of 'business'.

Either way, it could be argued that Microsoft no longer saw value in the above patents; by passing these patents to DJI as part of "Microsoft-DJI collaboration on Azure" it basically allows DJI to sue (back) a competitor. Microsoft is trying to market Azure by fueling unnecessary patent litigation. So much for a 'new' Microsoft, eh? It's just the Microsoft-Novell strategy rebranded a bit. ⬆