The patents include stuff like
Enable display of a webpage’s content before the background image is received, allowing users to interact with the page faster;
Permit users to easily select text in a document and adjust that selection; and
Provide users the ability to annotate text without changing the underlying document.
MS also patented the status bar, apparently. Poor Tim Berners-Lee must be kicking himself for not patenting the whole freaking WWW!
http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/