[mdlug] Microsoft says Android infringes on its patents

[Aaron Kulkis]

Adam Tauno Williams wrote:
> On Thu, 2010-04-29 at 13:26 -0500, Bob Dion wrote:
>> MS patents every thing, doesn't mean they own it 
> 
> That is exactly what a patent means.  They own it.
> 

And they've FREQUENTLY been caught filing patent on
the work of others.. in fact, even when the prior art
was well known within the industry.

The only thing that allows them to keep up this racket
is the fact that the patent examiners seem to be utterly
clueless about software in general (as in, what were
already established practices even DECADES ago), let
alone the state of the art.

But, it really won't mean anything in a couple of years.
there's a good 5-2 majority in the Supreme Court to
get rid of these odious things -- business methods have
already been struck down solidly, and the questioning
from the justices on that case indicates that they
fairly agree that business methods and computer
algorithms are indistinguishable.

The problem isn't so much Microsoft's wanting to patent
things .. it's that Gates, and the other upper management
are all paranoid, and behave as the business equivalent
of psychotic megalomaniacs (even arguing that what is
illegal for other companies should be OK for them, because
they're Microsoft, and the other companies are not).