3 ms·
Sue them for what? Are trade secrets involved? Are the bitmaps directly lifted from RIM property? Because there is no copyright protection for the general idea
by alanh 16y ago
Sue them for what? Are trade secrets involved? Are the bitmaps directly lifted from RIM property? Because there is no copyright protection for the general idea of an interface!
Edit: Patent ≠ copyright, but nonetheless a patent suit would be interesting, damned weak, and unlikely to be resolved for years (IANAL)
- mikeryan 16y agoBecause there is no copyright protection for the general idea of an interface! This isn't actually true, you can patent interfaces. Notoriously, a TV channel guide which has a grid interface with channels and times represented as columns and rows is patented (originally by TVGuide, now owned by Rovi). Every Guide you see on a cable or satellite box in the US pays a licensing fee to Rovi. http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/wo.jsp?WO=1998053607 http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/wo.jsp?WO=1998053607
- lukeschlather 16y agoDon't Apple's lawsuits against Android almost completely revolve around general ideas of interfaces?
- orangecat 16y agoWow, and filed in 1998? How is every spreadsheet in the world not prior art?
- skymt 16y agoA patent suit is possible. RIM has a number of mobile UI patents. I'm not familiar with Kik's UI, but if it's as close as I've heard, they could be infringing on a patent like this one: http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=6lKrAAAAEBAJ http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=6lKrAAAAEBAJ