On Trolls

From El Reg - Techdirt reports that Bill Gates has joined ex CTO Nathan Myhrvold at Intellectual Ventures, a company we have covered before: Notes El Reg:

TechDirt has uncovered that Bill Gates is named as an inventor on nine patents registered with a company called Searete since he stepped down from day-to-day responsibilities with Microsoft. Gates is also named on a further two Searete patents pre-dating his Microsoft departure.
Gates with the Ballmerbot

Searete is one of a clutch of [shell] companies operated by Myrholvd's Intellectual Ventures (IV). Myhrvold holds 241 named patents in Searete, whose catalogue goes back to November 2005.

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Not helping Microsoft's case is the fact that Gates isn't the only Softie working with Searete. Senior vice president of Microsoft research Rick Rashid and chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundie - who assumed some of Gates' responsibilities on departure - are also listed on the Searete patents. Searete and IV are also based in Bellevue, Washington - Microsoft's home state.

The patents authored by Gates, Rashid, Mundie, and others cover ways of identifying and monitoring the way people interact with web sites and online systems.

Now IV may say it is not a patent troll but if not its sailing very close to that wind, and it is reported to have some very questionable business practices (like putting bright people in a room to brainstorm and then having its lawyers file patents from the discussions).

Thing I don't get is why should Bill Gates bother - its not as if he needs the money, and being involved wit the potential negative publicity of "assertive patent acquisition" could hurt his otherwise benign emerging reputation as a charitable benefactor. Philanthropism and Patent Predation don't mix easily