His blog post said "The second one was after I was granted a patent that I honestly believed never should have been issued." If he posted the photo of the patent in an article where he simultaneously made that remark, that combination would be extremely damning evidence in any patent trial and could lead to the invalidation of the patent.
Although, on re-reading his statement, the firing wasn't the taking a picture of a patent, but including some ("infamous") art in another blog post.
The "infamous art" was a red screen of death from a beta copy of Windows Longhorn. Apparently the blog post was in the middle of the negative news cycle about Longhorn and his posting the RSOD didn't help.
Although, on re-reading his statement, the firing wasn't the taking a picture of a patent, but including some ("infamous") art in another blog post.