Cingular Patents the Emoticon?

massysett writes "Mobile phone carrier Cingular Wireless may have managed to get a patent on the emoticon. The patent describes a system for selecting a displayable icon to indicate the mood or emotion of the user. It also covers text-based emoticons, 'so presumably sending :) via an SMS - if selected via a dedicated or softkey, would be a breach of the patent in future.'" My response? >:/

Comments

Not a patent - an application only

[ChartBoy]

The "patent number" cited in the article is not a patent number. It is an application number (the US has recently started publishing applications in keeping with the rest of the world). This is the application.

US utility patent numbers have sequential numbers and are currently in the 6 million range. Application numbers have a year (2006) and a serial number within the year (15812).

First Use

[jmkaza]

19-Sep-82 11:44 Scott E Fahlman :-)
From: Scott E Fahlman

I propose that the following character sequence for joke markers: :-)

Read it sideways. Actually, it is probably more economical to mark
things that are NOT jokes, given current trends. For this, use :-(

Correct application number and link

[HDlife]

The APPLICATION NUMBER is 20060015812

This just published and is years from becoming a patent. This is just a laundry list of claims that they want, not that they will get.

You can see it here: http://appft1.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.html/

Actual patent number = 6,990,452

[hcg50a]

TFA had a bogus number.

Check the actual patent out.

headline/summary is WRONG WRONG WRONG

[amliebsch]

How the hell could a patent clerk look at this and stamp it?
It hasn't been stamped. It is just an application.

Did they even look at it?
They are looking at it.

Do we have any recourse or any way to fire these morons?
They haven't done anything.

Why in the name of all that is holy did this GET patented?
It isn't patented.

Patents are out of control... I'm just wondering if anyone has any input on how the hell they get by with this bullshit.

This headline, summary, and post represent the very worst of slashdot. A blatantly wrong headline and summary are posted that just coincidentally happen to inflame the commenters, who immediately posture and condemn without knowing any more about the subject than the misleading headline. A correction, if it is ever made, is already off the front page, and all these geeks who sincerely believe themselves to be rational and intellectually superior go off believing a complete falsehood, because it validates their beliefs.

Patent office lists prior art too

[goombah99]

[sour grapes] Rejected slashdot submission: [/sour grapes]

An hot news story that makes the outrageous inducing claim that Cingular has just patented the Emoticon appears to be untrue, since the US Patent office shows no such listing for the claimed Cingular patent. But that's not to say it's not outrageous :-0 since in fact AT&T, some guy in kirkland WA, and a dozen others have patented the emoticon or aspects of it. Perhaps most galling is that the patents actually use the word "emoticon" to describe what they are patenting. They of course don't actually patent the emoticon itself but the act of entering an emoticon into multi-media, sort of like patenting the one-click patent versus patenting, say, commerce. Is this one of the whackiest patents ever :-p