>From : http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10115247
"If you wondered how Bill Gates topped the Forbes rich list for the 11th year with a personal fortune of US$46.5 billion ($63 billion), look no further than the New Zealand Intellectual Property Office. Patent 525484, accepted by the office and now open for objections until the end of May, says Microsoft invented and owns the process whereby a word-processing document stored in a single XML file may be manipulated by applications that understand XML. It is one of a raft of patent applications Microsoft has dumped on the overworked staff of the office..." Doing a 'patent search' for 'microsoft' at http://www.iponz.govt.nz gives the following list of applications at various statuses, some of which *seem* pretty dubious, and most of which aren't viewable (think it requires registration) But, "Presentation of data based on user input"? Un-fucking-believable. Cheers, Kurt. The list : Accessibility system events mechanism and method System and method for user modification of metadata in a shell browser Extensible object previewer in a shell browser Systems and methods for providing controllable texture sampling System and method for associating properties with objects Word-processing document stored in a single XML file that may be manipulated by applications that understand XML Visual and scene graph interfaces Identity-based distributed computing for device resources Markup language and object model for vector graphics Native WI-FI architecture for 802.11 networks Presentation of data based on user input Enrolling/sub-enrolling a digital rights management (DRM) server into a DRM architecture A method for managing multiple file states for replicated files Method for managing file replication in applications A method to delay locking of server files on edit Method to initiate server based colloboration on e-mail attachments Type bridges Transmitting and receiving messages through a customizable communication channel and programming model Message processing pipeline for streams Message delivery with configurable assurances and features between two endpoints Improving availability and scalability in a messaging system in a manner transparent to the application System for hosting graphical layout/presentation objects Architecture for connecting a remote client to a local client desktop Network load balancing with host status information System and method for providing rich minimized applications File system shell RTP payload format File system for displaying items of different types and from different physical locations Automatic detection and patching of vulnerable files System and method for filtering and organizing items based on common elements Delegated administration of a hosted resource Projection of trustworthiness from a trusted environment to an untrusted environment Data structure for user modification of metadata in a shell browser Markup language data structure Programming interface for a computer platform Programming interface for a computer platform Design of application programming interfaces(APIs) Programming interface for licensing Use of isogenies for design of cryptosystems Word-processing document stored in a single XML file that may be manipulated by applications that understand XML Challenge-based authentication without requiring knowledge of secret authentication data Programmable object model for namespace or schema library support in a software application Object model for managing firewall services Extensible object previewer data structure Versioning support in object-oriented programming languages and tools Automated generation of message exchange pattern simulation code Methods and systems for providing automated actions on recognized text strings in a computer-generated document Method and apparatus for multi-sensory speech enhancement on a mobile device Update distribution system architecture and method for distributing software Tag-based schema for distributing update metadata in an update distribution system Systems and methods for encoding randomly distributed features in an object Grid canvas System and method for making user interface elements known to an application and user -- This electronic message together with any attachments is confidential and intended for the named recipient's use only. 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