That is a new departure: in the past, Microsoft has tried to "cut off the air supply" of rivals, in the celebrated phrase of one Microsoft executive.Microsoft is coming quite late to the patent game, for the obvious reason that it enjoyed a monopoly in its business area (albeit one judged illegal) for a long time and had little need of patents to protect it.
But he also points out that engineers and scientists thinking about getting into the patent game should recognize that the livelihoods of patent professionals are closely tied to the fates of the industries they serve.
It sometimes feels like an absurd story without an ending, trying to track who is attacking whom in the mobile patent game, and who is "winning".
Another development in the evolving technology patent game: HTC today becomes the latest Android handset maker to join forces with Intertrust Technologies Corporation to license the company's patents, largely around digital rights management.
The app uses Skyllzone's proprietary, patented game technology that enables users to play against computer teams, which are controlled by its algorithms for draft strategy and pick selections.
After all, these patent games have not helped Bristol-Myers, which has seen its stock fall to record lows as it reported disaster after disaster this year.
Lately, there have been signs that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission might crack down on the patent games drug giants play.
Monopoly, which is the best-selling privately patented board game in history, gained popularity in the United States during the Great Depression when Charles B. Darrow, an unemployed heating engineer, sold the concept to Parker Brothers in 1935.
"I had a conversation with Ray earlier tonight and he was like, 'When I was a rookie and I came to Market Square Arena and I saw you for three, three-and-a-half hours before shooting, that's how I wanted to patent my game,' " Miller said during the broadcast.
