Microsoft Wants More Credit for Inventions

theodp writes "Bill Gates said Thursday that Microsoft expects to file 3,000 patent applications this year, up from a little over 2,000 last year and 1,000 just a few years ago. 'We think--patent for patent--what we are doing is, if anything, more important than what others are doing,' said Gates, perhaps referring to 'Organizing and displaying photographs based on time,' which the USPTO published just hours before Gates spoke."

the person...

[Anonymous Coward]

with the most lawyers always wins.
rule # 1 kiddies - if you cant invent, buy more lawyers. and then claim you invented it.

risible

[pHatidic]

If you've ever seen the movie High Fidelity the main character decides to organize his albums not by title or genre, but by autobiographical so that if he wanted to find an album he had to remember when he bought it. Well just for fun I decided to do the same thing with my porn collection using iPhoto. Now I can see how my tastes in porno have changed and grown more sophisticated over the last 7 years. And wow I was into some pretty kinky shit as a 12 year old.

expect microsoft stock to go up....

[jms258]

once their patent on the blue screen of death goes through ...

they will be getting payouts left and right for that ...

it is by far the most ubiquitous of PC conventions that has ever been seen.

four people!

[illerd]

it took four people to come up with that!

Re:And the best part of the article

[JPriest]

Sorry jomas1, your post was kind of long so I didn't bother to read it all. But yes, your patent for first post is granted.

Re:Photo Patent

[jrockway]

Yeah, Nautilus has a "sort by date" option. Works for regular files too...

X_X

In related news...

[SteroidMan]

Microsoft patents three finger salute. Whiny boy scouts claim prior art. Bill Gates derides scouts as religious cult, and threatens to sue the pimply freaks into oblivion.

Experience tells me...

[Azureflare]

That the patent also probably includes additional factors, like the exact velocity and angle at which you push your mouse across the table (or the angle and velocity with which you flick your ball for you trackballers out there), the phase of the moon in the lunar calendar, the current estimated life of the CMOS battery, as well as the number of keys you've pressed on the keyboard today, among others....

Patents are a joke, and they need reform.

Re:In related news...

[Lehk228]

which is easily worked around by using the one finger salute in it's place

Dear Bill,

[nbert]

I always knew your company is inventing superior things every day. I just wonder what kept MS from implementing any of them? Sincerely yours -

The only possible explanation

[enginuitor]

The only truly unique technology Microsoft ever invented is their secret algorithm that is able to generate errors in such a way that every user experiences at least one unique problem never seen by anyone else. Microsoft's software beats all others in this aspect. No other software can match the sheer randomness of the errors produced by Microsoft operating systems, which is why people are willing to pay hundreds of dollars more for it than they would have spent on otherwise superior Open-Source operating systems such as Linux.

Re:And the best part of the article

[Krach42]

I actually think it's funny that Microsoft has the gaul to say that they are patent-for-patent more important than any other competitor. You know... except for IBM... which has more patents granted per year, than anyone else.

(If I have my fact right. If I don't please feel free to slap me with a herring.)

organizing based on time? feh.

[Keck]

'Organizing and displaying photographs based on time,'

ls -ltr

Bam.

so what he's saying is

[commodoresloat]

Microsoft patented France.

Re:Yes, Microsoft are now playing the patent game

[Daniel Ellard]

...they got hit by very absurd patent lawsuits. So now they want to grow fangs of their own.

Oh, boy, an arms race. That always works out for the best... Nothing like Mutual Assured Lawsuits to foster inovation.

p.s. I'm applying for copyright on the phrase "Mutual Assured Lawsuits."

not exactly

[commodoresloat]

The lawyers always win. The person with the most lawyers comes in second place.

Hubris or temper tantrum?

[whovian]

"We think--patent for patent--what we are doing is, if anything, more important than what others are doing."

Sounds to me somebody needs a hug?

let me spell it out for you.

[twitter]

A mindless AC asks:

How is this modded interesting? They might be Chinese but they're MSFT employees, they're not Chinese government bureaucrats looking at the Windows source code. And what does this have to with SCO??

So, I'm forced to explain myself.

By using Chinese slave labor they can patent twice as much as they did before. If chronological picture presentation is an indication of the quality of the new patents, I'm afraid that M$ is not getting much for their money. Pity the USPTO does not see it that way and will now keep us all from writing programs that present photographs in chronological order by doing such obvious things as looking at the file date and image metadata. I mentioned SCO because they are also involved in a huge M$ IP theft scheme. The M$ motto is, what's mine is mine and what's yours is mine, sign the dotted line, bitch, you're mine! I submit.

Got it yet? You will if you ever try to do anything for yourself and share it with your friends. By God, that would make you an IP thief because everyone knows that M$ make everything.

Ugh, not even Big Brother was brazen enough to take credit for everything. He was able to claim the helicopter, but not the airplane.

Please grant MS a patent for...

[carlmenezes]

...perfecting the technique of causing mass frustration stretching all the way from the individual consumer to entire governments through the release of buggy software and the use of questioable business practices to guarantee that the very same buggy software is used in place of better alternatives.

Re:risible

[flacco]

And wow I was into some pretty kinky shit as a 12 year old.

you kids today are so spoiled by this internet thing. when I was 12, we had to FIND our porn, in the woods, faded and wet, and stained by a stranger's spooge.

Re:so what he's saying is

[Bob McCown]

So, Microsoft is gonna surrender to Linux? Hooray!

Re:Because the USPTO just doesn't get it

[RickHunter]

And I know this stuff because yeah, I work at the USPTO.

Then if you know the regulations that actually govern the job you claim to be qualified to hold, you should know that the grandparent post was claiming that current Patent office policy regarding software violates the existing laws about patenting natural processes and mathematical formulae.

The fact that you don't know the regulations that govern your job gives weight to your assertion that you're a USPTO employee. Maybe, instead of claiming that there's nothing wrong with the system, you should be trying to fix it from the inside? Unless, of course, you're just astroturfing.

Re:And the best part of the article

[crucini]

Ironic, isn't it? It's like Joe claiming that pound-for-pound he's the best fighter in town, when in fact Bob is twice his size. Oh wait, it isn't ironic. That's what he meant.

Re:Please grant MS a patent for...

[Li0n]

please do not attribute to adequacy what is actually product of intertia.

Re:Photo Patent

[Anonymous Coward]

"for fuck's sake"

"Fuck" is a verb, you stupid fuck.