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Cingular Patents the Emoticon?

Posted by Zonk on from the no-words dept.

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? >:/

2 of 231 comments (clear)

  1. Been done by taustin · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This patent will conflict with Despair.com's registered trademark, won't it?

  2. We'll need to see the patent...but uh... by Benanov · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You know, it looks like it's another one of those “we're doing X, but on the internet” patents, except this time it's on a phone.

    I thought that I had lost all hope in the patent system some time ago, but I just lost more.