4 ms·

Don't the last two patents basically give them the right to sue ANYONE who has ever made some sort of GUI application, including vendors in their own app store

by jlgosse 17y ago

Don't the last two patents basically give them the right to sue ANYONE who has ever made some sort of GUI application, including vendors in their own app store and people who write apps for OSX? Aren't these basically design patterns?

technomancy 17y ago
> Don't the last two patents basically give them the right to sue ANYONE who has ever made some sort of GUI application, including vendors in their own app store and people who write apps for OSX? Aren't these basically design patterns? Welcome to the world of software patents. Many of the other ones are probably also very basic and widespread, they're just not worded in such a way as to make it so obvious.
- mbreese 17y ago
  Read the claims, not the titles. The title of a patent means nothing, from a legal sense. So while a title can be broad, the claims must be very specific.
  - milod 17y ago
    The claims merely need to be specific enough to not conflict with other patents (excluding the so called "obvious" and vague notion of "been there, done that"). Design patterns in the general sense are patentable, unfortunately.
- stcredzero 17y ago
  Everyone needs to do a search through the patent database sometime. You don't really know how much of a cesspool that system has become until you see the prevalence of patent trolling. The Signal/Bullsh#t ratio of our patent system is perhaps a little better than the Legit/Spam ratio for emails. Yes, it really is bad on a par with that!
  - nitrogen 17y ago
    The reason more programmers don't do that is because it is incredibly risky in terms of legal liability. The simple fact that you even looked at the patent database increases the chance that you will have to pay three times as much in damages if you are sued. Groklaw.net's sidebar has links to a bunch of information on all of this, designed to bridge the gap between lawyers and geeks.
    - stcredzero 17y ago
      For this purpose, one can do a search in an area away from where they are working.

by jlgosse 17y ago

technomancy 17y ago

> Don't the last two patents basically give them the right to sue ANYONE who has ever made some sort of GUI application, including vendors in their own app store and people who write apps for OSX? Aren't these basically design patterns? Welcome to the world of software patents. Many of the other ones are probably also very basic and widespread, they're just not worded in such a way as to make it so obvious.

mbreese 17y ago
Read the claims, not the titles. The title of a patent means nothing, from a legal sense. So while a title can be broad, the claims must be very specific.
- milod 17y ago
  The claims merely need to be specific enough to not conflict with other patents (excluding the so called "obvious" and vague notion of "been there, done that"). Design patterns in the general sense are patentable, unfortunately.
stcredzero 17y ago
Everyone needs to do a search through the patent database sometime. You don't really know how much of a cesspool that system has become until you see the prevalence of patent trolling. The Signal/Bullsh#t ratio of our patent system is perhaps a little better than the Legit/Spam ratio for emails. Yes, it really is bad on a par with that!
- nitrogen 17y ago
  The reason more programmers don't do that is because it is incredibly risky in terms of legal liability. The simple fact that you even looked at the patent database increases the chance that you will have to pay three times as much in damages if you are sued. Groklaw.net's sidebar has links to a bunch of information on all of this, designed to bridge the gap between lawyers and geeks.
  - stcredzero 17y ago
    For this purpose, one can do a search in an area away from where they are working.