In these days of concern and amid many attempts to create legal uncertainty and fear, one ought ask: what type of things does Microsoft patent? Here are some of the very latest 'innovations', which also happen to be consumer-hostile.

New Microsoft Patents

Punishment patents are a reflection of malice.

On Tuesday, the USPTO granted Microsoft a patent for privacy policy change notification, which describes how to threaten users with the loss of their accounts and access to web sites and services should they refuse to consent to changes in a privacy policy.

DRM patents are yet another (sure-to-fail) attempt to create a system that cannot be cracked and will not hurt innocent customers.

Microsoft has won a patent for a digital-watermarking technology that is inaudibly embedded in the audio signal and cannot be removed

Recent Microsoft Patent Applications

And everyone loves forced advertisements, right?

"The kernel meets The Colonel in a just-published Microsoft patent application for an Advertising Services Architecture, which delivers targeted advertising as 'part of the OS.'

Not to mention how much people appreciate intrusion...

The adware framework would leave almost no data untouched in its quest to sell you stuff. It would inspect "user document files, user e-mail files, user music files, downloaded podcasts, computer settings, computer status messages (e.g., a low memory status or low printer ink)," and more. How could we have been so blind as to not see the marketing value in computer status messages?

Needless to say, none of these insidious patents can actually affect Linux. Linux and Free software honour the consumer rather than utilise methods that exploit users for profits.

Harassments Attack

Another nasty new lawsuit targets a lot of the Wi-Fi sector.

NTP Inc. sued Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corp. for infringing on its patents related to mobile email services, a follow-up to its high-profile litigation with BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion Ltd. - Amol Sharma, WSJ.com

This could wreak havoc everywhere, except some layers' bank accounts.