unforum

[vpisteve]

Microsoft Patents "Interactive Entertainment"

[Ozy_y2k]

Based on what I've been able to make head or tail of out of the claim filed with the U.S.P.T.O. (I'm not a techie, so some of the techspeak sailed clear over my widdle head), they are attempting to essentially patent a process for "video-on-demand" (VOD) delivery of movies, sort of similar to a TiVO-meets-your-average-neighborhood-digital-cable-box type thingy. I think some of the critics of this approach may be jumping the gun a little bit here; it's not like MS is attempting to patent the CONCEPT of VOD (although I can see why commentators could reasonably jump to that conclusion after reading just the summary description of the proposed patented process). Instead, I think they're attempting to patent a particular form of DELIVERY of VOD, which is certainly within the scope of a reasonable use of the patent powers. Keep in mind that this is just an application for a patent claim as far as I can tell; the actual patent itself has been granted, but can still be contested if PTO or a patent court thinks that MS hasn't described it's claim with the requisite level of specificity to distinguish it from "prior art" (either already-patented technology, or technology which is so common that it's already in the public domain and thus unpatentable).

They're kind of threading the needle a bit on what's allowable here, though. As the commentator on EmbeddedWatch.com who broke the story noted: