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Apple Wins iTunes Interface Patent
phalse phace writes "There aren't too many details, but C|Net's news.com.com is reporting that Apple was issued a patent for its iTunes software interface on May 4. If you remember, Apple recently applied for a patent for its iPod interface as well."
You must be thinking of MS which did not pay Xerox anything and ripped off Apple.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
What become clear to me over the last few years is that the US Patent Office has descended to little more than a registry system, like copyright registration. All a patent really says these days is "I had this idea on this date."
Personally, I think the USPTO should stop claiming to even attempt to research patents. They should just take your submission, slap a date on it, and stick in their files. The USPTO clearly does not have the resources/desire/ability to verify that everything that crosses their desks are actually vaid patents, so we should quit assuming that they are and let the court system sort it out when necessary.
Life is too short to proofread.
The only difference, besides Lsongs taking a few beatings from an ugly stick, is that for some reason its controls are on the bottom.
But everything else, down to the File/Edit/Controls/Visualizer/Advanced menus and the eye icon for Browse is the same.
Pretty embarrassing.
A patent is supposedly issued to someone claiming an invention, creation, or, in some limited cases, discovery (in biological circles, but this requires discovery of a means to duplicate the mutation/cross-breeding/etc). Prior art is supposed to invalidate the claim, even overturning previously issued patents. However, once you have a patent, it's yours for, IIRC, 17 years from date of issuance or 20 years from date of application, whichever expires first (assuming it's not overturned).
There is no concept as patent defense. You may be getting this confused with trademark/service mark defense. In the latter case, if you don't defend your sole right to use the TM/SM in the manner in which it was issued, you may end up losing the right. However, you can have a patent for 15 years, do nothing to those who violate your patent, then file a multitude of lawsuits right before the patent expires. In fact, this has gotten common enough to warrant a buzzwordy phrase: submarine patents.
Well known examples of submarine patents include Unisys' gif patent, Forgent's jpeg claims, and the recent Eolas patent lawsuit against MicroSoft regarding patented applications related to browser plugins.
Unless I'm much mistaken, Winamp 2.9 first introduced the media library in March 2003; did Winamp 3.0 have the media library? iTunes had this interface in 1.0 in April of 2001.
Is it obvious? It is now. It may even have been obvious in 2003, when WinAmp introduced it... but was it because Apple introduced it in 2001?
How obvious is the Windows, Mouse, Pointer interface? Yet isn't it because Apple made it so in 1984 that Windows seems a no brainer?
GPL Deconstructed
It's amazing. Your posting is 100% false. That's impressive even by Slashdot standards.
0. Xerox openly showed Apple their stuff.
1. Apple paid Xerox for a license to it.
2. Apple hired Xerox employees to work later (3 months later) in the project.
3. Microsoft did NOT pay Xerox for patents.
4. Apple lost because it turns out that Microsoft had paid APPLE for a license.