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Before anyone says anything about when they actually filed it being important, the patent was filed May 20, 1999 while that Mozilla page on Chrome says it was last modified April 7, 1999.

Maybe the Male upper garment and manufacturing method of reinforcement pad for use therein counts?

It's not exactly the same, but at least as funny. "With those elements, the garment displays an appearance of a man of a well-developed pectoralis major muscle". Oh boy.

Actually, I think the real problem is that there is no competition for the iPod.

Of course, the state enforced monopoly they were given doesn't help that any.

ROFL! For those of you that don't know, phoxix is a TROLL.

I have maxed out my karma ages ago. This is of no concern to me.

Nintendo does NOT hold a patent on the d-pad. Nor does anyone else. If anyone tells you otherwise, ask them to cite the USPTO # or equivalent. They will not be able to, because such a patent does not exist.

Read the very first sentence of this patent: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PT O2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=4&u=/netahtml/search-bool.html&r =186&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=ptxt&s1=nintendo&s2=direct ional&OS=nintendo+AND+directional&RS=nintendo+AND+ directional

Sunny Dubey

What's the U.S. patent number? It's not listed in the embossed text on the back of my NES controllers, just "Nintendo controller, model no. NES-004, made in Japan", and I don't have my original NES packaging. I need to know the number in order to know when it was filed.

Though, I'm not sure of the exact patent number, but the following I *think* is it: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PT O2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=4&u=/netahtml/search-bool.html&r =186&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=ptxt&s1=nintendo&s2=direct ional&OS=nintendo+AND+directional&RS=nintendo+AND+ directional

(Tepples grabs a PS1 controller.) The PS1 digital pad is actually one piece of plastic, not four like on the WonderSwan. When it's under the player's thumb, the "break" between the four raised portions of the pad feels more like a recessed area than a break because the size of the average player's thumb fills in the gap.

I believe the "breaks" are all one needs to avoid this patent.

Then how exactly did Sega get away with a + shaped D-pad on the Dreamcast controller? I'm too lazy to take apart my Dreamcast controller at the moment. If you're referring to the fact that the cross juts out from a disc hidden under the plastic housing of the controller, that can't be it. I've taken apart a Super NES controller, an N64 controller, and a Game Boy Advance system, and Nintendo D-pads jut out from discs as well. However, I can see that there are small sloped faces on the inside corners of the plastic of the Dreamcast D-pad. Does that have anything to do with it?

I don't remember too well. Either in some old edition of "EGM" or "Next Generation", one of the editors specifically spells out why the DreamCast controller doesn't violate Nintendo's patent.

I would just like to add: This has to be the one of the most annoying patents in video gaming ever. I've played with too many irratating and badly designed "directional circles", heh :^) Sunny Dubey

I obviously can't comment on the validity of their claim, but I can say that Road Rage was intended from the ground up to be a ripoff of Crazy Taxi. I suspect that if Sega can demonstrate damages - specifically that Road Rage took sales away from Crazy Taxi and its sequels - they can probably win their case...of course, there's every possibility that EA, et. al. will settle out of court with Sega since a) they have incredibly deep pockets and b) I don't know that anyone in the video game industry, including Sega, would benefit from this kind of precedent.

I'm guessing that Sega is referring to patent 6,200,138. From a quick scan, the patent seems to claim 1) an algorithm to get pedestrians to leap out of the way of the player's car and 2) a directional arrow pointing to the player's destination. (There's also some mumbo-jumbo about "easy to understand" displays and "real driving feeling" -- make of it what you will.) I'll leave it to patent agents expert in the field (do such beasts exist?) to determine whether the patent is valid and whether it's been infringed.

Method of Treating Chest Pain, Patent 6,457,474, Carl E. Hanson of St. Paul, Minn. This inventor has patented lime juice to replace nitroglycerin as a treatment for chest pain such as angina pectoris. Making the patented invention requires only modest skill. "Limeade in non-concentrated form," according to the document, "was prepared by opening a can of the Minute Maid brand Premium All Natural Frozen Concentrate for Limeade, removing the contents and placing it in a pitcher, adding approximately 52 fluid ounces (about 4.5 cans) of tap water to the frozen concentrate and stirring.

"The pitcher was placed in the refrigerator so that the contents would cool. I drank approximately 2 to 3 glasses of limeade daily and did not notice the reoccurrence of chest pain." The lime juice can also be administered intravenously or by the angina sufferer's placing the frozen concentrate directly into his or her mouth. "The present invention is advantageous in that a patient can easily determine if the medicine is properly ingested. Lime juice has a very noticeable taste that disappears after it leaves the mouth. Since the juice is regularly stored in the refrigerator or freezer, it can be quickly located by the patient, particularly at nighttime where the refrigerator light plays a helpful role."

The gales of laughter must have reached the Patent Office, because the Director ordered the patent to be re-examined, which I assume means that it will be revoked.

Patent FAT? You could file a patent on fat thighs and the Patent Office would issue it.

Method of Treating Chest Pain, Patent 6,457,474, Carl E. Hanson of St. Paul, Minn. This inventor has patented lime juice to replace nitroglycerin as a treatment for chest pain such as angina pectoris. Making the patented invention requires only modest skill. "Limeade in non-concentrated form," according to the document, "was prepared by opening a can of the Minute Maid brand Premium All Natural Frozen Concentrate for Limeade, removing the contents and placing it in a pitcher, adding approximately 52 fluid ounces (about 4.5 cans) of tap water to the frozen concentrate and stirring.

"The pitcher was placed in the refrigerator so that the contents would cool. I drank approximately 2 to 3 glasses of limeade daily and did not notice the reoccurrence of chest pain." The lime juice can also be administered intravenously or by the angina sufferer's placing the frozen concentrate directly into his or her mouth. "The present invention is advantageous in that a patient can easily determine if the medicine is properly ingested. Lime juice has a very noticeable taste that disappears after it leaves the mouth. Since the juice is regularly stored in the refrigerator or freezer, it can be quickly located by the patient, particularly at nighttime where the refrigerator light plays a helpful role."

The gales of laughter must have reached the Patent Office, because the Director ordered the patent to be re-examined, which I assume means that it will be revoked.

Patent FAT? You could file a patent on fat thighs and the Patent Office would issue it.

Indeed. The four patents that Micro$oft mentions are all on the mixed long/short filename issue. So VFAT/FAT32 are all covered, but the original 8.3 FAT might not be.

Of course, there might be some interesting anti-trust implications, too...

U.S. Patent #5,579,517 Common name space for long and short filenames

An operating system provides a common name space for both long filenames and short filenames. In this common namespace, a long filename and a short filename are provided for each file. Each file has a short filename directory entry and may have at least one long filename directory entry associated with it. The number of long filename directory entries that are associated with a file depends on the number of characters in the long filename of the file. The long filename directory entries are configured to minimize compatibility problems with existing installed program bases.

U.S. Patent #5,745,902 Method and system for accessing a file using file names having different file name formats

A multiple file name referencing system stores multiple file names in a file. These multiple file names include an operating system formatted file name and an application formatted file name. When an operating system formatted file name is created or renamed, the multiple file name referencing system automatically generates an application formatted file name having a potentially different format from, but preserving the extension of, the operating system formatted name. The multiple file name referencing system similarly generates an operating system formatted name upon creation or renaming of an application formatted name. A B-tree is provided which contains an operating system entry for the operating system formatted name and an application entry for the application formatted name, each entry containing the address of the same file to which both names refer. The multiple file name referencing system converts the operating system formatted file name to the application formatted file name by accessing the B-tree with reference to the operating system entry, and vice versa. As a result, either file name can be used to directly reference the file without requiring additional file name translation.

U.S. Patent #5,758,352 Common name space for long and short filenames

An operating system provides a common name space for both long filenames and short filenames. In this common namespace, a long filename and a short filename are provided for each file. Each file has a short filename directory entry and may have at least one long filename directory entry associated with it. The number of long filename directory entries that are associated with a file depends on the number of characters in the long filename of the file. The long filename directory entries are configured to minimize compatibility problems with existing installed program bases.

U.S. Patent #6,286,013 Method and system for providing a common name space for long and short file names in an operating system

An operating system provides a common name space for both long filenames and short

U.S. Patent #5,579,517 Common name space for long and short filenames

An operating system provides a common name space for both long filenames and short filenames. In this common namespace, a long filename and a short filename are provided for each file. Each file has a short filename directory entry and may have at least one long filename directory entry associated with it. The number of long filename directory entries that are associated with a file depends on the number of characters in the long filename of the file. The long filename directory entries are configured to minimize compatibility problems with existing installed program bases.

U.S. Patent #5,745,902 Method and system for accessing a file using file names having different file name formats

A multiple file name referencing system stores multiple file names in a file. These multiple file names include an operating system formatted file name and an application formatted file name. When an operating system formatted file name is created or renamed, the multiple file name referencing system automatically generates an application formatted file name having a potentially different format from, but preserving the extension of, the operating system formatted name. The multiple file name referencing system similarly generates an operating system formatted name upon creation or renaming of an application formatted name. A B-tree is provided which contains an operating system entry for the operating system formatted name and an application entry for the application formatted name, each entry containing the address of the same file to which both names refer. The multiple file name referencing system converts the operating system formatted file name to the application formatted file name by accessing the B-tree with reference to the operating system entry, and vice versa. As a result, either file name can be used to directly reference the file without requiring additional file name translation.

U.S. Patent #5,758,352 Common name space for long and short filenames

An operating system provides a common name space for both long filenames and short filenames. In this common namespace, a long filename and a short filename are provided for each file. Each file has a short filename directory entry and may have at least one long filename directory entry associated with it. The number of long filename directory entries that are associated with a file depends on the number of characters in the long filename of the file. The long filename directory entries are configured to minimize compatibility problems with existing installed program bases.

U.S. Patent #6,286,013 Method and system for providing a common name space for long and short file names in an operating system

An operating system provides a common name space for both long filenames and short

U.S. Patent #5,579,517 Common name space for long and short filenames

An operating system provides a common name space for both long filenames and short filenames. In this common namespace, a long filename and a short filename are provided for each file. Each file has a short filename directory entry and may have at least one long filename directory entry associated with it. The number of long filename directory entries that are associated with a file depends on the number of characters in the long filename of the file. The long filename directory entries are configured to minimize compatibility problems with existing installed program bases.

U.S. Patent #5,745,902 Method and system for accessing a file using file names having different file name formats

A multiple file name referencing system stores multiple file names in a file. These multiple file names include an operating system formatted file name and an application formatted file name. When an operating system formatted file name is created or renamed, the multiple file name referencing system automatically generates an application formatted file name having a potentially different format from, but preserving the extension of, the operating system formatted name. The multiple file name referencing system similarly generates an operating system formatted name upon creation or renaming of an application formatted name. A B-tree is provided which contains an operating system entry for the operating system formatted name and an application entry for the application formatted name, each entry containing the address of the same file to which both names refer. The multiple file name referencing system converts the operating system formatted file name to the application formatted file name by accessing the B-tree with reference to the operating system entry, and vice versa. As a result, either file name can be used to directly reference the file without requiring additional file name translation.

U.S. Patent #5,758,352 Common name space for long and short filenames

An operating system provides a common name space for both long filenames and short filenames. In this common namespace, a long filename and a short filename are provided for each file. Each file has a short filename directory entry and may have at least one long filename directory entry associated with it. The number of long filename directory entries that are associated with a file depends on the number of characters in the long filename of the file. The long filename directory entries are configured to minimize compatibility problems with existing installed program bases.

U.S. Patent #6,286,013 Method and system for providing a common name space for long and short file names in an operating system

An operating system provides a common name space for both long filenames and short

U.S. Patent #5,579,517 Common name space for long and short filenames

An operating system provides a common name space for both long filenames and short filenames. In this common namespace, a long filename and a short filename are provided for each file. Each file has a short filename directory entry and may have at least one long filename directory entry associated with it. The number of long filename directory entries that are associated with a file depends on the number of characters in the long filename of the file. The long filename directory entries are configured to minimize compatibility problems with existing installed program bases.

U.S. Patent #5,745,902 Method and system for accessing a file using file names having different file name formats

A multiple file name referencing system stores multiple file names in a file. These multiple file names include an operating system formatted file name and an application formatted file name. When an operating system formatted file name is created or renamed, the multiple file name referencing system automatically generates an application formatted file name having a potentially different format from, but preserving the extension of, the operating system formatted name. The multiple file name referencing system similarly generates an operating system formatted name upon creation or renaming of an application formatted name. A B-tree is provided which contains an operating system entry for the operating system formatted name and an application entry for the application formatted name, each entry containing the address of the same file to which both names refer. The multiple file name referencing system converts the operating system formatted file name to the application formatted file name by accessing the B-tree with reference to the operating system entry, and vice versa. As a result, either file name can be used to directly reference the file without requiring additional file name translation.

U.S. Patent #5,758,352 Common name space for long and short filenames

An operating system provides a common name space for both long filenames and short filenames. In this common namespace, a long filename and a short filename are provided for each file. Each file has a short filename directory entry and may have at least one long filename directory entry associated with it. The number of long filename directory entries that are associated with a file depends on the number of characters in the long filename of the file. The long filename directory entries are configured to minimize compatibility problems with existing installed program bases.

U.S. Patent #6,286,013 Method and system for providing a common name space for long and short file names in an operating system

An operating system provides a common name space for both long filenames and short

If you looked it up, you'd see that the patents listed on microsoft's page are not for FAT itself, but for long filename extensions to it.

The patents listed were filed in '92, 95, 96, and 97. I haven't looked into the details of the patents, but I assume the date those features were published would be during the mareting of windows 95, so the first 2 at the very least are within the 1 year publish-file grace period.

here's the fist of the patentes in question. Filed for only in 1995, granted in 1996. I've looked at it, but I don't have a good understanding of how claims in a patent work. If each claim represents something they own then I don't see any way they can makes claims as broad as claim 1. If the patent is only for something that matches each and every claim, then it would seem that a very minor (even compatable) varient on one part of any these claims would allow an alternate file system to co-exist that would not infringe the m$ patents. But then it doesn't make much sense for this (or any) patent to go into extreme detail in making claims that would limit what the patent applies to.

It's not like they provide very much information, but here are the patent abstracts, plus links to the full patents. They sure don't seem interesting, and they all seem to deal with the coexistence of long and short filenames. All of this wouldn't be patentable in Europe.

United States Patent 5,579,517
Reynolds , et al. November 26, 1996
Common name space for long and short filenames

Abstract

An operating system provides a common name space for both long filenames and short filenames. In this common namespace, a long filename and a short filename are provided for each file. Each file has a short filename directory entry and may have at least one long filename directory entry associated with it. The number of long filename directory entries that are associated with a file depends on the number of characters in the long filename of the file. The long filename directory entries are configured to minimize compatibility problems with existing installed program bases.

United States Patent 5,745,902
Miller , et al. April 28, 1998
Method and system for accessing a file using file names having different file name formats

Abstract

A multiple file name referencing system stores multiple file names in a file. These multiple file names include an operating system formatted file name and an application formatted file name. When an operating system formatted file name is created or renamed, the multiple file name referencing system automatically generates an application formatted file name having a potentially different format from, but preserving the extension of, the operating system formatted name. The multiple file name referencing system similarly generates an operating system formatted name upon creation or renaming of an application formatted name. A B-tree is provided which contains an operating system entry for the operating system formatted name and an application entry for the application formatted name, each entry containing the address of the same file to which both names refer. The multiple file name referencing system converts the operating system formatted file name to the application formatted file name by accessing the B-tree with reference to the operating system entry, and vice versa. As a result, either file name can be used to directly reference the file without requiring additional file name translation.

United States Patent 5,758,352
Reynolds , et al. May 26, 1998
Common name space for long and short filenames

Abstract

An operating system provides a common name space for both long filenames and short filenames. In this common namespace, a long filename and a short filename are provided for each file. Each file has a short filename directory entry and may have at least one long filename directory entry associated with it. The number of long filename directory entries that are associated with a file depends on the number of characters in the long filename of the file. The long filename directory entries are configured to minimize compatibility problems with existing installed program bases.

United States Patent 6,286,013

It's not like they provide very much information, but here are the patent abstracts, plus links to the full patents. They sure don't seem interesting, and they all seem to deal with the coexistence of long and short filenames. All of this wouldn't be patentable in Europe.

United States Patent 5,579,517
Reynolds , et al. November 26, 1996
Common name space for long and short filenames

Abstract

An operating system provides a common name space for both long filenames and short filenames. In this common namespace, a long filename and a short filename are provided for each file. Each file has a short filename directory entry and may have at least one long filename directory entry associated with it. The number of long filename directory entries that are associated with a file depends on the number of characters in the long filename of the file. The long filename directory entries are configured to minimize compatibility problems with existing installed program bases.

United States Patent 5,745,902
Miller , et al. April 28, 1998
Method and system for accessing a file using file names having different file name formats

Abstract

A multiple file name referencing system stores multiple file names in a file. These multiple file names include an operating system formatted file name and an application formatted file name. When an operating system formatted file name is created or renamed, the multiple file name referencing system automatically generates an application formatted file name having a potentially different format from, but preserving the extension of, the operating system formatted name. The multiple file name referencing system similarly generates an operating system formatted name upon creation or renaming of an application formatted name. A B-tree is provided which contains an operating system entry for the operating system formatted name and an application entry for the application formatted name, each entry containing the address of the same file to which both names refer. The multiple file name referencing system converts the operating system formatted file name to the application formatted file name by accessing the B-tree with reference to the operating system entry, and vice versa. As a result, either file name can be used to directly reference the file without requiring additional file name translation.

United States Patent 5,758,352
Reynolds , et al. May 26, 1998
Common name space for long and short filenames

Abstract

An operating system provides a common name space for both long filenames and short filenames. In this common namespace, a long filename and a short filename are provided for each file. Each file has a short filename directory entry and may have at least one long filename directory entry associated with it. The number of long filename directory entries that are associated with a file depends on the number of characters in the long filename of the file. The long filename directory entries are configured to minimize compatibility problems with existing installed program bases.

United States Patent 6,286,013

It's not like they provide very much information, but here are the patent abstracts, plus links to the full patents. They sure don't seem interesting, and they all seem to deal with the coexistence of long and short filenames. All of this wouldn't be patentable in Europe.

United States Patent 5,579,517
Reynolds , et al. November 26, 1996
Common name space for long and short filenames

Abstract

An operating system provides a common name space for both long filenames and short filenames. In this common namespace, a long filename and a short filename are provided for each file. Each file has a short filename directory entry and may have at least one long filename directory entry associated with it. The number of long filename directory entries that are associated with a file depends on the number of characters in the long filename of the file. The long filename directory entries are configured to minimize compatibility problems with existing installed program bases.

United States Patent 5,745,902
Miller , et al. April 28, 1998
Method and system for accessing a file using file names having different file name formats

Abstract

A multiple file name referencing system stores multiple file names in a file. These multiple file names include an operating system formatted file name and an application formatted file name. When an operating system formatted file name is created or renamed, the multiple file name referencing system automatically generates an application formatted file name having a potentially different format from, but preserving the extension of, the operating system formatted name. The multiple file name referencing system similarly generates an operating system formatted name upon creation or renaming of an application formatted name. A B-tree is provided which contains an operating system entry for the operating system formatted name and an application entry for the application formatted name, each entry containing the address of the same file to which both names refer. The multiple file name referencing system converts the operating system formatted file name to the application formatted file name by accessing the B-tree with reference to the operating system entry, and vice versa. As a result, either file name can be used to directly reference the file without requiring additional file name translation.

United States Patent 5,758,352
Reynolds , et al. May 26, 1998
Common name space for long and short filenames

Abstract

An operating system provides a common name space for both long filenames and short filenames. In this common namespace, a long filename and a short filename are provided for each file. Each file has a short filename directory entry and may have at least one long filename directory entry associated with it. The number of long filename directory entries that are associated with a file depends on the number of characters in the long filename of the file. The long filename directory entries are configured to minimize compatibility problems with existing installed program bases.

United States Patent 6,286,013

It's not like they provide very much information, but here are the patent abstracts, plus links to the full patents. They sure don't seem interesting, and they all seem to deal with the coexistence of long and short filenames. All of this wouldn't be patentable in Europe.

United States Patent 5,579,517
Reynolds , et al. November 26, 1996
Common name space for long and short filenames

Abstract

An operating system provides a common name space for both long filenames and short filenames. In this common namespace, a long filename and a short filename are provided for each file. Each file has a short filename directory entry and may have at least one long filename directory entry associated with it. The number of long filename directory entries that are associated with a file depends on the number of characters in the long filename of the file. The long filename directory entries are configured to minimize compatibility problems with existing installed program bases.

United States Patent 5,745,902
Miller , et al. April 28, 1998
Method and system for accessing a file using file names having different file name formats

Abstract

A multiple file name referencing system stores multiple file names in a file. These multiple file names include an operating system formatted file name and an application formatted file name. When an operating system formatted file name is created or renamed, the multiple file name referencing system automatically generates an application formatted file name having a potentially different format from, but preserving the extension of, the operating system formatted name. The multiple file name referencing system similarly generates an operating system formatted name upon creation or renaming of an application formatted name. A B-tree is provided which contains an operating system entry for the operating system formatted name and an application entry for the application formatted name, each entry containing the address of the same file to which both names refer. The multiple file name referencing system converts the operating system formatted file name to the application formatted file name by accessing the B-tree with reference to the operating system entry, and vice versa. As a result, either file name can be used to directly reference the file without requiring additional file name translation.

United States Patent 5,758,352
Reynolds , et al. May 26, 1998
Common name space for long and short filenames

Abstract

An operating system provides a common name space for both long filenames and short filenames. In this common namespace, a long filename and a short filename are provided for each file. Each file has a short filename directory entry and may have at least one long filename directory entry associated with it. The number of long filename directory entries that are associated with a file depends on the number of characters in the long filename of the file. The long filename directory entries are configured to minimize compatibility problems with existing installed program bases.

United States Patent 6,286,013

All four listed patents deal with the problem of having both short and long file names. None of my digital cameras use long file names.

All four listed patents deal with the problem of having both short and long file names. None of my digital cameras use long file names.

All four listed patents deal with the problem of having both short and long file names. None of my digital cameras use long file names.

All four listed patents deal with the problem of having both short and long file names. None of my digital cameras use long file names.

Open and shut, volunteers lose. NEXT!

I think it will be interesting to see how SSC proves they own the name.

Well, this might be a good example of how they can prove they own the name. To quote the relevant part:

Owner (APPLICANT) Specialized Systems Consultants, Inc. CORPORATION 2208 NW Market St Suite 407 Seattle WASHINGTON 98107

A lot of interesting people have learning problems with issues like style. If you put each of them at a typewriter, however... Kurzweil's poetry engine seems to be little more than a wham-o-dyne Dissociated Press script. The inclusion of pronounciation parsing is cute, but hardly a leap in AI sciences. From another point of view, this has got to be the best documented piece of software I've ever seen. Maybe the GNU Project should start patenting everything they write. Would be interesting to see the GPL "hereby incorporated by reference".

The USPTO has a search engine. The front page is at http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html. It has a full-text search going back to 1976, and you can (apparently) see scanned images of documents all the way back to 1790.

The phrase "two thumbs up" certainly wasn't invented by Roger Ebert

Another use for such a system is a gift or donation registration service. An entity seeking gifts or donations would provide a list of what it needed to the registration service. Entities wishing to make gifts or donations would call the registration service and the service would mediate a transaction between the donor and the source of the item to be given or donated.

Still other uses involve assigning available resources of a given type to clients who call for assistance. One example of such a system is a lawyer referral service. The referral service would maintain a database of lawyers and would assign lawyers to clients on a basis which assured that each lawyer would get a fair share of the referrals. The system would determine from the database which lawyer was to get the referral and would connect the lawyer with the calling client.

Additionally, a communications system may be advantageously used to mediate a transaction such as an auction. Customers could make bids. The communications system would validate the bids and provide them to the auctioneer, who would know only the mounts, and not the identities of the bidders. The communications system could then indicate to each participant the current highest bid and solicit new bids until a single highest bid remained. In some embodiments, the communications system itself might play the role of auctioneer. In such an embodiment, the transaction manager would keep track of the current highest bid, would inform the participants of that bid, and when bidding had ceased, would complete the transaction with the highest bidder.

I remember a book from several years ago in in which a cyberpunk lawyer (it was a very strange piece of fiction, yes) used the theory of adverse possession (What's that?) to claim title to a piece of intellectual property left unimproved by its owner. I'm starting to think that implementing such a theory in IP law, as insane as that is, would be an improvement over the current situation ....

I'm always shocked at these types of naming farces. It is so easy to run a search on any name and determine prior uses. Besides a search engine, other good sources of prior uses of name include any online yellow pages, whois, and the USPTO Trademark Search. A bit of searching before deciding on a name can help prevent these types of trademark infringement problems.

Redhat already owns the trademark on fedora

Really?

Its a trademark, not a registered trademark. RH don't own it per se, a trademark is just your assertion that you used it first. Its the legal equivalent of "bagsies".

-Baz

Click here to view the status of Red Hat's Trademark filing.

If the Fedora Project objects, then they should file their own application for trademark registration and an opposition to RedHat's registration.

Oops ... the original link was an index into a search. This one should always work.

The actual patent is number 5373560. I have to admit that I don't fully understand the content of the patent. Does anyone else know?

--
"she said Jesus was my age when he got nailed" - Dark Star, 'I Am The Sun'

This patent:


USPTO 6,631,400 is even more interesting. If you look at it, it's basically a patent on spamming.

The problem is though that you would only need to use a technique where you got no feedback on how many got the spam (such as spam's without hidden 1px images) and the patent wouldn't apply...

Dave

Nothing like mass subsconscious programming...

The metaphors and analogies to the real will be exposed.

This rabbit hole goes alot" DEEPER and gets REAL and comment #4 protected

If you are too lazy to read the entire patent, and insist on only reading a small part, how about also reading what the claims section says instead of just the abstract?

Sometimes, you know, patents are allowed that don't actually have prior art, or at least aren't as obvious as the abstract makes them sound.

The actual patent is here, and if you push 'page down' once or twice you will see (assuming you can actually be bothered) what they are actually claiming.

From the final paragraph, before the appendices:

Thus, Anti-spam techniques based on the various forms of duplicate detection are useful only as long as spammers don't use the list-splitting countercountermeasure, because the LS-spammer has a powerful advantage in the arms race. I believe the anti-spam research and development communities should focus attention instead on the techniques that are impervious to list Splitting, such as cryptographic techniques and the email channels approach.

Keeping information secret about methods that could let spammers avoid filters would not prevent someone else from discovering the same techniques, if they haven't already.

Having information publicly about how to circumvent a technology at worst will let these techniques be used slightly earlier than they would've otherwise.
At best, it allows some people to start thinking about how to make counter-counter-counter-filter detectors, or come up with some other strategy AND sue spamming software makers.

So you know what the "email channels" mentioned in the previous quote are, patent are the 2nd to last paragraph states:

By contrast, the email channels approach (see R. J. Hall; How to avoid unwanted email; Comm. ACM 41(S'), 88-95, March 1998) exploits the simple idea that spammers must know a valid address in order to successfully send email to a user. The user is provided with a transparent way of allocating and deallocating different addresses for use by distinct correspondents. Thus, if a spammer obtains one address for a user and sends a message to it, the user can simply close the channel and all subsequent messages are bounced by the server at the protocol level before the message data are even transferred. Because this approach is not dependent on message content, it is completely impervious to list-splitting.

Some mail providers allow you to have multiple aliases for one email address, and to remove any of them when you feel like it. The same (or at least a similar) idea as using an @hotmail or @yahoo account as your non-primary mail, but much simpler to manage your contacts with.

The patent has nothing to do with this method of spam avoidance, except to mention it as not being susceptable to the patented form of counter-filtering. Read the patent. Just thought I'd mention that in case someone didn't RTFA.

From the final paragraph, before the appendices:

Thus, Anti-spam techniques based on the various forms of duplicate detection are useful only as long as spammers don't use the list-splitting countercountermeasure, because the LS-spammer has a powerful advantage in the arms race. I believe the anti-spam research and development communities should focus attention instead on the techniques that are impervious to list Splitting, such as cryptographic techniques and the email channels approach.

Keeping information secret about methods that could let spammers avoid filters would not prevent someone else from discovering the same techniques, if they haven't already.

Having information publicly about how to circumvent a technology at worst will let these techniques be used slightly earlier than they would've otherwise.
At best, it allows some people to start thinking about how to make counter-counter-counter-filter detectors, or come up with some other strategy AND sue spamming software makers.

So you know what the "email channels" mentioned in the previous quote are, patent are the 2nd to last paragraph states:

By contrast, the email channels approach (see R. J. Hall; How to avoid unwanted email; Comm. ACM 41(S'), 88-95, March 1998) exploits the simple idea that spammers must know a valid address in order to successfully send email to a user. The user is provided with a transparent way of allocating and deallocating different addresses for use by distinct correspondents. Thus, if a spammer obtains one address for a user and sends a message to it, the user can simply close the channel and all subsequent messages are bounced by the server at the protocol level before the message data are even transferred. Because this approach is not dependent on message content, it is completely impervious to list-splitting.

Some mail providers allow you to have multiple aliases for one email address, and to remove any of them when you feel like it. The same (or at least a similar) idea as using an @hotmail or @yahoo account as your non-primary mail, but much simpler to manage your contacts with.

The patent has nothing to do with this method of spam avoidance, except to mention it as not being susceptable to the patented form of counter-filtering. Read the patent. Just thought I'd mention that in case someone didn't RTFA.

>> As a representative for Canon systems I would
>> like to recommend our sky blackening system

Dear Sirs.

Please cease and desist manufacturing, product, and marketing of said 'sky blackening system'. This product is in violation of US Patent 6,254,254 titled 'Skin light exposure control methods'.

It's not absurd, it's Aloe Vera!

USPTO search

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What is claimed is:

1. A method to improve peri-anal hygiene comprising:

providing a gel of viscosity thick enough to rest for several seconds on a piece of toilet paper without causing noticeable disintegration of the piece of toilet paper;

dispensing a quantity of the gel onto the sheet of toilet paper;

applying the gel to an anal area using the sheet of toilet paper as an applicator; and

wiping the anal area with a dry sheet of toilet paper to dry the anal area of moisture left by said applying the gel.

2. A method to improve peri-anal hygiene comprising:

dispensing a gel onto a piece of toilet paper using a gel pump, the gel having a viscosity of sufficient thickness to prevent noticeable disintegration of a portion of the piece of toilet paper when the gel is applied to the portion; and

wiping an anal area with the gel using the piece of toilet paper as an applicator.

3. The method of claim 2, further including:

storing the gel in a container, the gel pump being secured to the container.

4. The method of claim 2, further including:

wiping the anal area with a dry piece of toilet paper for substantially drying the anal area of moisture left by said wiping the anal area with the gel.

5. An apparatus for improving peri-anal hygiene comprising:

a gel pump attached to a container; and

a gel applied to a portion of a piece of toilet paper by said gel pump, said gel having a viscosity of sufficient thickness to prevent noticeable disintegration of said portion of said piece of toilet paper when said gel is applied to said portion.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein:

said gel comprises Aloe Vera gel.
-----

If you check out patent application 20020191027, Resizing a dialog by dragging the bottom right corner, Microsoft believes that Apple travelled decades into the future to copy Windows.

Was MS granted a patent on cookies today, or am I reading this wrong?

I can't find any mention of the EOLAS patent on this list: Director Ordered Reexamination Check your sources!

6,520,942 Reexam. C.N. 90/006,758, Ordered Date: Sept. 24, 2003, Cl. 604/290, Title: METHOD TO IMPROVE PERI-ANAL HYGIENE AFTER A BOWEL MOVEMENT, Inventor: Edward L. Putman, Owner of Record: Edward L. Putman, Vernon, CT, Attorney or Agent: Owner is representing self, Ex. Gp.: 3761

6,520,942 Reexam. C.N. 90/006,758, Ordered Date: Sept. 24, 2003, Cl. 604/290, Title: METHOD TO IMPROVE PERI-ANAL HYGIENE AFTER A BOWEL MOVEMENT, Inventor: Edward L. Putman, Owner of Record: Edward L. Putman, Vernon, CT, Attorney or Agent: Owner is representing self, Ex. Gp.: 3761

I doubt everything will be reviewed, but if there is a single review of a software patent then there is precedent for more reviews, and hopefully a message to all that patents aren't to be handed out like candy. Unfortunately the General Powers and Duties of the USPTO according to law are 1) to follow the policy of the secretary of commerce, 2) to issue patents, and 3) to disseminate patent information to the public. There is nothing in the general duties about ensuring the patent is "first art".