Apple claim trademark on shiny speech bubbles –
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/01/developers-be-warned-apple-has-apparently-trademarked-those-shiny-chat-bubbles/
Sound trademark battle over duck whistles -
http://www.loweringthebar.net/2009/08/tour-companies-battle-over-trademarked-duck-noises.html
The American Football league have banned Twittering -
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10322904-2.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0
Microsoft are pushing for a single global patent system -
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10334285-92.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0