[cdg] Computer News - Microsoft gains double-clicking patent
- From: "Donny Duncan" <ravers_deelite@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <cdg@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 5 Sep 2004 19:13:17 -0500
Pulled from NewScientist (www.newscientist.com)
Microsoft gains double-clicking patent
Microsoft has successfully patented using short, long or double clicks to
launch different applications on "limited resource computing devices" -
presumably PDAs and mobile phones. The US patent was granted on 27 April.
Now any US company using a variety of clicks to launch different software
functions from the same button will have to change their product, pay licensing
fees to Microsoft or give Microsoft access to its intellectual property in
return.
British company Symbian, which makes operating systems for mobile phones that
employ double clicks and has offices in the US could be affected, as could
PalmOne in California, which supplies PDA software.
Several activists who oppose software patents say that Microsoft's patent is
not a "sensible use" of the patenting system because the idea of the long,
short and double clicks is neither novel or non-obvious.
Both the US and the UK use these criteria to decide whether or not to grant
patents. "It is almost beyond parody that Microsoft has been able to do this,"
says Ian Brown of the Foundation for Information Policy Research in London, UK.
Read more here:
http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/tech/article.jsp?id=99995072&sub=Computing
Donny Duncan
http://www.computer-discounts-guide.com
http://www.making-an-online-living.com
http://www.satellitetv-reviews.com
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