Re: PBI: tear-off tab items?
Re: PBI: tear-off tab items?
- Subject: Re: PBI: tear-off tab items?
- From: Greg Titus <email@hidden>
- Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 15:45:10 -0800
On Wednesday, February 26, 2003, at 02:19 PM, Jeff LaMarche wrote:
On Wednesday, February 26, 2003, at 08:07 AM, Janek Priimann wrote:
(d) Illegal. Adobe has a patent on this type of interface. See for
yourself:
Thats why software patents should be banned for good.
And please remember (because most people don't) that because the USPO
accepted a patent doesn't mean it's enforceable. A great many
technology patents are not enforceable, or are at least of
questionable validity, but most people want to stand up to a cease and
desist letters from the attorneys for a large corporation, they might
as well be enforceable.
I don't personally know if Adobe's "detachable tab" patent has been
tested in court (it may have), but filing with the USPO only creates a
presumption; it is not an incontrovertible statement that the idea
deserves legal protection. There are a number of ways to show that a
patent doesn't deserve legal protection, such as showing prior art
(e.g. someone else was doing it before the patent was filed).
Yes, Adobe's "detachable tab" patent has been tested in court. Adobe
sued Macromedia over use of this and a couple other UI patents, and won.
News story here:
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-898061.html?legacy=cnet&tag=lthd
Macromedia has a couple countersuits filed against Adobe over a couple
UI patents as well. The unfortunate lesson is: be very careful about
copying UI elements from other apps.
Hope this helps,
- Greg
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