Could be wrong but I read the new ToS as lumping patent rights under Intelectual Property Rights and then compelling the user to grant a license under IPR (and therefore also patent rights).
Under section 4.1 it defines IPR as: "Intellectual Property Rights" means copyrights, trademarks, service marks, trade dress, publicity rights, database rights, *patent rights*, and other intellectual property rights or proprietary rights recognized by law. Then under section 7.1: You retain any and all *Intellectual Property Rights* you already hold under applicable law in Content you upload, publish, and submit to or through the Servers, Websites, and other areas of the Service, subject to the rights, licenses, and other terms of this Agreement, including any underlying rights of other users or Linden Lab in Content that you may use or modify. Then under 7.2: You agree that by uploading, publishing, or submitting any Content to or through the Servers, Websites, or other areas of the Service, you hereby automatically grant Linden Lab a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicenseable, and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the Content solely for the purposes of providing and promoting the Service.
_______________________________________________ Policies and (un)subscribe information available here: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/OpenSource-Dev Please read the policies before posting to keep unmoderated posting privileges