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Microsoft has [filed][1] two separate patents involving RSS technology. The patents were originally filed 18 months ago, just days before the company [announced][2] RSS support for IE7, but were only released to the public yesterday.
Public outcry quickly followed since Microsoft had little if anything to do with the development of RSS. Dave Winer, the self-described inventor of RSS, [lashed out][4] via his blog claiming "Presumably they're eventually going to charge us to use it."
"This should be denounced by everyone who has contributed anything to the success of RSS," Winer writes.
But Winer is wrong about a couple of key points. First of all the documents in question are not patents, but *applications* for patents which have not yet been granted. Second of all, from my reading anyway, Microsoft is not patenting RSS, but RSS within Vista/IE7. Of course I'm not a patent lawyer, I could be wrong about that.
The big mystery is what Microsoft is planning to do with the patents if they are awarded them. The sad state of patent affairs in the United States has led to several cases of Microsoft being [sued ][5]for technologies they did arguably invent simply because some else owned a generic patent on them.
Nick Bradbury author of popular RSS application FeedDemon, [writes][3] on his blog:
>But before the geekosphere goes into "patent attack mode," let's take a breather and think about why this patent was filed. For example, quite often companies file patents just to protect themselves from lawsuits. There are plenty of sleazebags who file patent applications on obvious ideas, and then wait for someone like Microsoft to infringe those patents... Yes, it sucks that the patent process has devolved to such a state, but this is the reality of the environment that today's businesses have to operate in.
The only thing that's for sure is Microsoft did not invent RSS and the do not yet have a patent for it either. The RSS entry on Wikipedia [provides some background][3] if you're curious who did invent RSS. The short answer -- lots of people working together and separately.
It would be nice to see Microsoft release some information on what they plan to do with these patents, but for now we'll just have to wait and see whether the U.S. Copyright and Patent Office grants them.
[1]: http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220060288329%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20060288329&RS=DN/20060288329 "Microsoft Patent application"
[2]: http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2005/06/24/432390.aspx "IE blog on RSS in IE7"
[3]: http://nick.typepad.com/blog/2006/12/microsofts_cont.html "Nick Bradbury on Microsoft patent claims"
[4]: http://www.scripting.com/2006/12/21.html#aTaleOfCorporateAtrocity "Dave Winer on Microsoft patent claims"
[5]: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1661094,00.asp "Microsoft settles with InterTrust"
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