USPTO Issues Email Address Patent to Microsoft

theodp writes "On Tuesday, Microsoft was granted U.S. patent no. 6,895,426 for treating electronic mail addresses as objects, which Microsoft notes allows email addresses to be easily added to a contact list, copied to the computer's clipboard, or double-clicked to open the related contact information for that email address sender. After the reaction to news of his first patent, betcha inventor Dan Crevier isn't too eager to let folks know about this one."

Comments

My new patent:

[TripMaster Monkey]

Since we're on the subject, I thought this would be a good time to let all of you know that I have just patented the .sig file. That means that all you suckers who use .sigs now owe me a dollar every time you post. You'll all be recieving bills very soon now.

^_^

Seriously, though, I think the exchange on Dan Crevier's blog regarding his last patent is pretty telling...he gets a barrage of posts criticizing him for stifling innovation, and instead of addressing them, he closes the thread. Yes, yes, I'm well aware it's his blog, and if he doesn't want to play, he' s well within his rights to close the thread...just like that kid who would always take his ball and go home when the game didn't go his way...remember that kid?

Time to fight back

[fishdan]

What needs to happen is someone needs to sue the Patent Office for negligence. There must be some case out there where it can be shown that the USPTO's negligence in issuing patents so casually has caused some company monetary damages. If a city can be held liable because of damages caused by a pot hole or a supermarket because of floors being slippery, or McDonalds for coffee being too hot, can't we hold the USPTO responsible for issuing patents for which there is BLATANT prior art? I don't mean this as a rhetorical question. Why is the USPTO never held accountable?

Hit them in the pocketbook. It's the only sort of censure a government office understands.