1. Steal Apple's technology 2. File a patent before they can 3. Profit!

David Kaefer, Microsoft's director of intellectual property licensing, said it was open to letting other firms patent its innovations.

Great news source. There's a world of difference between "let other firms patent its inventions" and "let other firms license its patents."

If there's any intelligence in the court system, this will be reversed. Guess Apple is screwed.

FPAP - First Prior Art Post!

Congratulations! You're the first Slashbot to write 'Prior Art' in this patent discussion! Good job winning the race, and good luck with the free karma!

From the website: http://thesurrealist.co.uk/priorart.cgi [thesurrealist.co.uk]

"It's a series of randomly-generated product ideas! It raises questions about the nature of prior art in patenting issues, has some inspiring ideas, and is occasionally amusing!"

Design #1384685891

It's a shower head that jumps like a frog and displays pornography.

If there's any intelligence in the court system...

Ah, young Jedi. Much to learn, you have. /Yoda

"I see you're trying to make a playlist. Would you like me to get jiggy with it?"

the only ones who will benefit are the lawyers.

The older I get, the more I realize that I picked the wrong career.

Using common sense, a disgusting move far from surprising from a company who's main innovative power seems to be located in the Legal department rather than in R&D. What's next, a patent for "creating software"

Yeah, Apple has sunken pretty low nowadays, crashing small companies left and right.

Has anyone patented buttered bread yet?

No, but I have several butter related patents pending.

1. The Butter Pen. Put your standard stick of butter in and draw the butter on to your toast/pancakes/waffles/etc. The butter pen automatically maintains the butter at the perfect temperature for spreading. the butter.

2. The Butter Powered Clock. Harnessing the internal power of butter, just feed it a new stick of butter every sunday and this clock will keep running. Plus as an added bonus your room will smell nice and butttery.

3. Popcorn Irrigation System. Ever notice how the popcorn on top gets all the butter and by the time you reach the bottom, you are gnawing on dry butterless popcorn? The Popcorn Irrigation System solves that problem once and for all by equally distributing the butter to the entire batch. Using a system of pressurized tubes and nozzles along with liquid butter, each kernel is misted equally with delicious butter.

4. Butter Rifle. For long distance buttering hobbyists. How tight is your spread?

I better not spill all the beans, these inventions are really pushing the limits of butter technology to the next phase. You can see how exciting the field still is though.

"Also, though a lot of lawyers are great people, a lot are completeassholes, and all of them have an ego, which makes the assholes harder to deal with."

And this makes them different from coders...How?

/me runs and ducks. :)

Counsel: Hey Steve, Bill says he 0wns our iPod and he wants $1 billion.
CEO: Damn, let's fight back. Isn't that your job, by the way ?
Counsel: Well, they just litigated this small phony company to death, so their patent must be valid.
CEO: Nooooooooo, we're screwed.
Counsel: Oh wait, Bill's lawyer is my old friend Bob, we were in law school together, so he's willing to settle for just $100 million.
CEO: Phew, it's good to have you on board. I'll tell the good news to our shareolders.

Later...
Counsel: Hey Bob, the deal is done. See you at the club next weekend.

(Any resemblance to existing persons and companies blah blah)

What's the difference between licensing a bogus patent for millions and using invoice fraud to get money out of your company ?
Someday corporate officers will be held accountable for these monetary diversions.

In the week and a half I worked with him he probably put in over 180 hours of work.

This reminds me of the old joke...

A bright, promising attorney dies in a car crash. He gets to the pearly gates, and St. Peter greets him. "Robert! You must be the 79 year old attorney who just wrecked his Porsche."

Robert says, "Um... I did wreck my porsche... but I'm 38."

"Not according to your billing records..."

Popcorn
Irrigation
Spray
System

An elaborate system of reservoirs, valves, pressure sensors and delivery ducts to evenly mist your popcorn with warm yellow liquid . . . salt included.

How tight is your spread?

Hey! No need to get personal.

Maybe in addition to the $10 fee, MS will require Apple to bundle Internet Explorer with every iPod sold.