The patent office is a fascinating resource, I have discovered, after readying an interesting post on Waxy.org.

Andy Baio points out a patent application by Apple Computer for the backend software used to publish music to the iTunes Music Store. Cool stuff.

Even more interestingly, he points out that you can keep up with your favorite companies approved and pending patents, like so.

So, here are all approved patents and pending applications for Apple Computer. Some other interesting company searches: Google’s pending and approved, TiVo’s pending and approved, and Yahoo’s pending and approved.

And this blog, FreshPatents.com, has RSS feeds by industry on new patent requests/grants. Cool!