The first is Microsoft's recent success in patenting a `Method and apparatus for transmitting power and data using the human body'. Details of the patent, which was awarded on 22 June 2004, are given here, by the US Patent Office.. In other words, they're patenting the networking capacity of human skin.

An article describing some of the implications of this patent can be found in The Guardian. Apart from being distinctly creepy, the idea of using human skin as a network for computer applications has been criticised by human rights' groups who point out that "[t]here are big questions here about whether individuals will be able to refuse this technology if it is used in, for example, tracking devices."

More coverage is given by news.com who note that "[s]ince last year, Microsoft has been on a campaign to generate more money from its intellectual property, and in recent weeks the company has obtained patents for double-clicking, XML-scripting methods and a system for generating a to-do list from source code."

The other event of interest is the launch in the US, by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), of a Patent Busting Project. The EFF believes, as do most outside the big corporations, that too many patents are being awarded by the US patents office. The harm that these patents cause is well documented on this newswire. See here and here, for example. These articles focus on the European situation but the same principles apply in the US.

With its Patent Busting Project, the EFF plans to document the damage of patents, particularly:

• Identifying the worst offending patents;
• Documenting the prior art that shows their invalidity; and
• Chronicling the negative impact they have had on online publishers and innovators.

Furthermore the EFF plans to challenge the patents by putting a `re-examination request' to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Here's a list of the EFF's ten most wanted bad-patent companies. Maybe when they've finished with that lot, they can get Microsoft in their sights...