Freaky, freaky, freaky!

As we pointed out last week, Microsoft is becoming one the USPTO's largest clients (yes, clients). One thing which was interesting to find is that Microsoft is claimed guilty of infringing on patents -- those patents which is loves so much.

Zhongyi Electronic, a 100-employee firm, alleged that Microsoft has used its inputting technology and fonts in Windows operating systems without commercial agreement for a decade, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

More interesting, however, is the following freaky patent application from Microsoft:

When a Microsoft Corp. patent application for a method of sorting brain waves surfaced late last year, it drew quips that the company now plans to read PC users' minds, in addition to selling them software.

This probably makes the pinnacle of a series of disturbing and unethical patents identified in the past few months. These include:

1. Microsoft patents the mother of all adware systems



2. Will Microsoft Put The Colonel in the Kernel?

Also see this: Forget about the WGA! 20+ Windows Vista Features and Services Harvest User Data for Microsoft

In other patent news, the idea of a community patent litigation system provokes and makes some decent discussion. [found in digitalmajority.org]

Who doesn't like patent litigation? I know I do. What could be more fun than reading newspapers articles about companies suing the pants out of each other for infringing on ideas the suing party are theirs. It doesn't matter that the defendant might never even have heard of the patent in question, as patent law nevertheless applies and gives the claimant a chance to make a windfall in damages for patent infringement.

The EU is now close to setting up its own Community Patent Litigation System (CPLS), which would turn the current national-based litigation into something bigger, a community-wide litigation-fest. The idea of a CPLS came from the Commission back in 2004, but since then the Member State politicians have gotten involved and have been hard at work in coming up with a proposal for such a system.

With regards to patents, Pieter Hintjens has just added a video which sheds some light on the issues at hand.



We apologise, but there is no Ogg Theroa version. Pieter's permission to produce it would be needed. ⬆