The Web giant and frequent target of intellectual property litigation says the move is designed to create greater transparency. It hopes other patent holders will follow suit.

No stranger to intellectual property litigation, Microsoft today launched a Web tool that lets anyone search its entire portfolio of 40,785 patents.

The idea, according to the software giant's general counsel, Brad Smith, is to create greater transparency, giving those who might otherwise illegally use Microsoft's patents without permission a way to find what intellectual property Microsoft owns.

"One of the fundamental objectives of the patent system is to provide notice regarding inventions -- not only the nature of what has been invented but who owns the patent," Smith wrote in a blog post.Microsoft Launches Patent Search Site For Its Own Patents [news.cnet.com]