Microsoft wins potential bastards in media tech patent award
Oh my. This is a patent by Microsoft that enables content distribution regulation by viewing users. What does that mean in plain English? Well, as Kotaku Australia noted:
Basically, when you buy or rent something like a movie, you’ll only be granted a “license” for a certain number of people to watch it. If Kinect detects more people in the room than you had a licence for, it can stop the movie, and even charge you extra.
Just when you thought downloadable media rights restrictions couldn’t get any worse or more stupid, here comes another patent to prove us wrong. Next: a patent that will listen for anyone in the room whistling their favourite pop song and then demand performance royalties or repeatedly punch them in the face with an ‘iFist’.
But as we know from countless blogpost and articles about Apple patents; a patent does not a product make.