Microsoft announced today they had received their 10,000th patent, number 7,479,950, entitled “Manipulating association of data with a physical object,” which sounds ironic enough.

While the patent’s abstract reads:

“Data elements stored in a computing system and associated with a physical object are reassociated with the same or another physical object. An identifying characteristic presented by the physical object, such as a reflective pattern applied to the object, is detected when the object is positioned adjacent to the interactive display surface. Images or other files associated with the identifying characteristic are accessed and displayed on the interactive display surface. A gesture by a user adjacent to the interactive display surface is detected to reassociate a selected representation. For example, the user can change where the selected element fits in a sequence of data elements, or reassociate the selected element with a second object placed on the interactive display surface. In a networked environment, the reassociated element can be stored on a server and subsequently accessed from a different interactive surface via the network using the second physical object.”

Microsoft’s description is far more interesting: “Microsoft’s 10,000th patent can, among other things, be used to associate objects such as keys placed on a Microsoft Surface computer with particular blocks of data, such as music files.” However, I’m now forced to quote Lazlo Hollyfeld in Real Genius when he said, “What would you use that for?”

For the second year in a row, in 2008 the IEEE ranked Microsoft’s patent portfolio at the top of the list in terms of “its power and influence,” and not just among software companies. In 2003, Microsoft made a public commitment to broaden its IP licensing efforts, shifting “from a defensive posture to a proactive, collaborative one.”

Ever wonder what it would be like: A world free from DRM, copyrights and patents?

See Microsoft’s press release.

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5. Net firms start storing user data