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Microsoft Patents Making A List For Santa
from the but-not-checking-it-twice dept
theodp writes "Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. But making a list for him may now constitute patent infringement. USPTO officials were busy over the holidays wrapping up the paperwork to grant Microsoft its wish for a patent on the Wish List, which was issued to the software giant on New Year's Day." Admittedly, the actual patent goes into a bit more detail than theodp's summary. It involves making a wishlist that goes beyond just a single store, which can include categories rather than just products and which also pulls in additional shopping info. Even with that additional info, it's difficult to see why this is deserving of a patent, as it really just seems to be combining a bunch of things that were easily done before online -- and we had thought that the Patent Office had issued new guidelines, as per the Supreme Court's ruling, to avoid such combinations.
