microsoft patents

Microsoft has patented a technology for tracking employee work habits by monitoring e-mails, phone calls and even mannerisms in video conferences.

There have been a string of similar "deals" announced recently (though we do wonder about the details), but Microsoft has announced that Qanta is the latest company to "license" its usage of Android and Chrome.

Microsoft has been tiptoeing around its claims that Android violates certain Microsoft patents, carefully choosing who to sue.

For example, it's sued Motorola, but hasn't sued Google.

Linux Patents: "A-patent-a-day, a service to help the community identify Microsoft patents that Linux infringes and help them organize development efforts to remove their dependency."

IT Wire: "How difficult or easy is it to obtain one of the much-touted "royalty-free, reasonable and non-discriminatory" licences for Microsoft patents that are part of a technology like Mono?"

Is Microsoft’s suit filed against GPS device maker TomTom the first shot in a larger Linux war? That was the question being asked yesterday after news spread that Microsoft had filed a patent-infringement suit in US District Court for the Western District of Washington against TomTom NV and Tom Tom Inc.