The interwebs have been buzzing lately about this patent filed by Microsoft. It’s entitled, “Metered Pay-As-You-Go Computing Experience.”
Claim 1 reads: ”A method of operating a computer with scalable performance comprising: presenting a catalog of options related to scalable performance of the pay-per-use computer; presenting a price associated with each of the options; receiving a selection of an option from the catalog of options; calculating a total price of operation of the computer corresponding to the selection of the option; configuring the computer to operate in accordance with the selection of the option; andaccumulating charges for operation of the computer according to the total price.”
Observations:
- This is a business method patent (as far as I can tell) and could be precluded by Bilski
- Isn’t this somewhat obvious? I admit to being surprised but the things that survive a non-obvious inquiry, but metering a standard way of doing business seems obvious even from a forward-looking perspective.
- I continue to have serious hang-ups regarding the US intellectual property system. It seems to me that inventors rarely trade information worthy of receiving a limited monopoly anymore.
But hey, I’m just a law student (who is still waiting on his grade from patents).
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