Microsoft often gets criticized for not pushing the innovation envelope, following in the footsteps of others who blaze the trail. But with the release of Windows Phone 7, Kinect and Windows Azure this year, Microsoft Chief Patent Officer Bart Eppenauer notes in a blog post that 2010 will "go down in history as a significant year for creativity and invention at Microsoft."

Microsoft -- despite the failure of the Kin mobile device -- has had a string of nice hits in recent months. And Eppenauer notes that the company has instituted a "culture of discovery, creativity and development."

Eppenauer

That was highlighted, he writes, by the company recently being named by the Patent Board as having the strongest patent portfolio in the information technology category. Microsoft, which spends about $9 billion annually on R&D, ranked ahead of IBM, Oracle, H-P, Google and others.

"Patents will continue to play a key role in fostering technologies that enable interaction with people in new, unexpected ways," Eppenauer wrote. "Our commitment to world-class creativity and invention in computer science and our R&D investment will enable Microsoft to continue setting the standard for patent quality in the technology industry."

Microsoft has made some big moves in the past few weeks when it comes to patents, including organizing a group to pay $450 million for intellectual property assets from Novell. Earlier this year, Microsoft and HTC entered into an agreement in which the mobile handset maker agreed to pay Microsoft to license patents related to mobile phones. Microsoft also settled a patent-infringement suit with Salesforce.com this past summer.