The Washington Post's charming book critic goes after Apple for its aggressive patenting.

I've been a fan of The Washington Post's book critic Ron Charles' "Totally Hip Book Reviewer" video series ever since his cheerfully biting (and self-deprecating) examination of Jonathan Franzen's Freedom in 2010. In a new video, embedded above, Charles has a different target in mind, not an overrated novelist but an overly aggressive patent-seeker, namely, Apple. Riffing off of last week's news that Apple has patented the digital page turn, Charles takes this thinking to its (logical? no, there is no logic in this) extreme, play-acting as an Apple exec who has had the brilliant idea of patenting ... letters. "With Apple's new 'Letters,' " Charles explains, "we can write the words 'cease and desist,' and we can copy those words in courts in almost every state in the union."

Hats off to you, Mr. Charles.