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IBM Patents Web Page Templates

Posted by timothy on from the patent-office-crack dept.

jalefkowit writes: "More follies from the US Patent & Trademark Office ... now IBM has been awarded US Patent #6,304,886 for software that automatically "generates [a] customized Web site without the Web site creator writing any HTML or other programming code", based on "a plurality of pre-stored templates, comprising HTML formatting code, text, fields, and formulas" that are then customized through the process of asking the user a few questions. In other words, they've patented the ubiquitous wizards found in FrontPage and other newbie-oriented HTML editors. This was submitted to the USPTO on June 19, 1998 -- surely someone out there knows of prior art for this?"

1 of 420 comments (clear)

  1. IBM, Come get me you skanky bastards by Enonu · · Score: 5, Funny

    #include <stdio.h>

    int main (int argc, char** argv) {
    char buff[100];
    printf ("Please enter in your web text: ");
    scanf ("%s", buff);
    printf ("Your web page: <HTML><BODY><b>%s</b></BODY></HTML>\n", buff);
    }