We have people in our organization who keep saying you can't patent things that have been previously invented, announced or publicized - and yet every day, it seems, we see evidence of the opposite. Microsoft gave us all a lump of coal over the holiday by filing patents on aspects of RSS-based content syndication. From CNet: "Microsoft has filed for two patents covering technology used to organize and read syndicated Web feeds, such as those delivered via the widely used Really Simple Syndication, or RSS, family of formats." Microsoft responds, "these patents describe specific ways to improve the RSS end-user and developer experience (which we believe are valuable and innovative contributions) -- they do not constitute a claim that Microsoft invented RSS." The problem is, as we have seen elsewhere, companies minimize the impact when speaking publicly, but maximize the impact when presenting their patent in court. My sympathies lie with the first comment: "Please go steal somebody else's ideas, thank you. RSS is not M$'s to steal or patent!"
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