Bill Gates Does Some Inventing on the Side

Bill Gates and several of Microsoft’s top technologists are credited as inventors in eight newly disclosed U.S. patent applications. That isn’t a surprise. But here’s where it starts to get unusual: The applications weren’t made on Microsoft’s behalf. Why are Gates and others from Microsoft doing their “inventing” outside the realm of the company? Microsoft has an explanation, and the company says it’s not as unorthodox as it might seem.

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