This is an interesting response to the article linked to here about Microsoft's new effort to increase its number of patenrs per year to 3,000:

The Public Patent Foundation ("PUBPAT") announced today the expansion of its Microsoft Patent Watch initiative that monitors and responds to the patent assertion efforts of the Redmond, WA based software monopolist. The initiative, initially an internal activity of the New York based non-profit legal services organization, will now actively involve the public in keeping tabs on Microsoft's aggressive patent licensing and litigation behavior.

View the full article here: http://www.pubpat.org/Microsoft_Patent_Watch.htm

Google's Prospectus, which is online, makes for a good read. One interesting part from the introductory lerrter:

"Last year we created Google Grants--a growing program in which hundreds of non-profits addressing issues, including the environment, poverty and human rights, receive free advertising. And now, we are in the process of establishing the Google Foundation. We intend to contribute significant resources to the foundation, including employee time and approximately 1% of Google's equity and profits in some form. We hope someday this institution may eclipse Google itself in terms of overall world impact by ambitiously applying innovation and significant resources to the largest of the world's problems."

View the entire prospectus here: https://www.ipo.google.com/data/prospectus.html