Apple Patents Drop Down Menu After 11 Years

[Scott2010au]

The whole point of a patent is to give the owner a 20 to 25 year monopoly over their idea.

There are valid reasons for this, namely: Progress & More Progress.

*****If it wasn't for patents your computer and video card would be about 1% as powerful as they are today*****, so think twice before posting what may as well be garbage.

 

[rodney_ws]

Just another example of a government agency unable to keep up with the rest of us.

 

[ArgleBargle]

Pshaw. Who cares about society when a few people can get rich? It's every person for themselves, amiright? I'm not taking advantage of the laws, I'm just working within the borders they set. So what if my patent prevents an improvement in the quality of life for billions of people? *They* aren't paying my bills! Me, me me! That's the buzzword of the 21st century!

 

[dustcrusher]

[citation][nom]anonanonanon[/nom]well microsoft did patent the page up and page down buttons on keyboards a while back...[/citation]I invented the delete key. In my factory I reward my workers every time we find a new way to correct a mistake with a Tofutti break. It tastes just like ice cream, you know 😉

Remember this case from the old days of 16-bit? This is an example of the patent laws working properly:
http://articles.latimes.com/1992-04-11/business/fi-275_1_patent-infringement

Claims like "we invented the transparent dropdown menu" are patently absurd. I would like to think there is a way we can separate legitimate innovations from claims of "creating" basic, now-common design elements. In my mind, the worst patent ever is still the one for "turning a playing card sideways to denote a game action."

As it stands now, it's like obscenity laws- all in the eye of the beholder. Next thing you know some fool's going to come along and claim his great-great-grandfather invented "a means of using a dense alloy disk with two embossed sides to determine the order of play in a game or sporting event."

 

[Guest]

Someone has to hurry up and declare "opaque" as an opensource before coporate patent it. Otherwise we will have blank screen forever.

 

[Vladislaus]

[citation][nom]Scott2010au[/nom]The whole point of a patent is to give the owner a 20 to 25 year monopoly over their idea.There are valid reasons for this, namely: Progress & More Progress.*****If it wasn't for patents your computer and video card would be about 1% as powerful as they are today*****, so think twice before posting what may as well be garbage.[/citation]
Competition is the stimuli for progress, not patents. Patents hinder progress. Patents are used to choke many small corporations and battle rivals.

Also a patent doesn't mean you're the inventor of anything. Like I stated earlier linux had transparent menus long before apple even applied for this patent. Also an idea shouldn't be patentable, if you want to patent something it should be obligatory to present a working prototype.

 

[teodoreh]

...patents do not help evolution -that's an urban myth produced by companies and ignorant followers. R&D can do just fine without patents. And it's plan ridiculous to apply for patenting simple things like drop down menus.

 

[tsnor]

So do something about it. http://www.peertopatent.org/

"Peer To Patent - a joint project between the New York Law School and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
"Help the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) find the information relevant to assessing the claims of pending patent applications. Become a community reviewer and improve the quality of patents.

 

[Partizan92]

what's next patenting the whole GUI.... that's why i hate apple and microsoft they're just a bunch of fools... they're using useless patents to protect them selves from what... i think that they should spend more time covering the holes in their products than applying for useless patents

 

[bv90andy]

NEXT: a patent pending for 3000 years has just been approved: the wheel.

 

[eddieroolz]

So what happens to Microsoft/Unix OS with File/Edit menus?