Trolls who sue legitimate businesses and Bill Gates can relate to one another, as they're in the same type of business (Intellectual Ventures and the Gates Foundation work together for profit). Ignoring PR and puff pieces like Slashdot's latest boosting of Nathan and Bill (not the first time, albeit this time it is boosted by the site of Todd Bishop again, with history of Microsoft funding), there seems to be growing awareness of Gates' relationship with trolls. The Microsoft booster writes:
Gates and Myhrvold are two of 10 inventors listed on the patent filing — a telltale sign that this was a product of one of Intellectual Ventures’ brainstorming sessions. Intellectual Ventures leader Myhrvold, the former Microsoft technology chief, is involved in a variety of ventures with Gates, and has regularly included him in these sessions.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is one of 10 inventors named on a newly public patent application for a technology that uses mobile phones to turn text into video. Filed in January 2012, the application was made public on July 25 this year after the customary 18-month confidentiality period.
Gates has been prolific in filing patent applications over the past few years, mostly through a partnership with friends at Intellectual Ventures (IV). That's one of the world's largest patent holding companies, typically described as a patent troll because of its practice of acquiring patents and using them to file lawsuits (notably against Motorola), despite not using the patents to make technology of its own.