[delineal]

Though this is clearly political wrangling, I think Microsoft should be careful about claiming publicly that anything patented by them is "natural"... Natural is very close to "obvious"... which is bad for patents:

"natural ways of interacting with devices by tabbing through various screens to find the information they need"

[marshray]

Good point. That that their lawyers are freely using the word "natural" just shows how egregious they are.

They don't really care if the claims have merit, all they care about is the legal expense and risk it imposes on the defendant.

[rbanffy]

I doubt B&N can afford adequate defense, and that's why MS is after them with such obviously invalid claims.

I would love if B&N went all in, proved the claims are without merit and countersued with a vengeance.

[marshray]

MS is suing several Android device makers simultaneously. Along with Google, there's an obvious incentive for them to pool their resources.

Not to mention that Google has a few patents of its own of course.

[rbanffy]

Google having few patents is not relevant in the case Microsoft's patents are invalid. And every manufacturer who is yet to be extorted should pool the resources they set aside for licensing Microsoft's IP to invalidate Microsoft's patents for less money than would otherwise be needed (and to reap profits from the inevitable countersuit).

[sorbus]

Entirely relevant: It's way easier to threaten an opponent with an extremely long legal war that would be quite damaging to them (and then come up with a cross-licensing deal) than it is to engage in a long legal war to invalidate patents.

Sure, it's not the best thing to do, but it's better for all concerned.

[rbanffy]

I'd cut Microsoft's access to Google. Let them try to function with only Bing results ;-)