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Microsoft Deems Emotiflags Patent-Worthy
theodp writes "Microsoft said you could count on them to improve patent quality. For an example of how they're raising the bar on innovation, check out this just-published patent application for Emotiflags, which Microsoft explains solves the problem of indicating an emotion associated with an email message. At the risk of infringing on the patent, this one Makes Me Mad!"
I was wrong._ prior_to_invention
It was maybe 1972.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoticons#Background
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Technically, I think it is trademarked, not patented. 2 different things. I have no clue what the implications may be however.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
They don't have a trademark. Despair, Inc. is a humor site, of course, and they joke about their "trademark":
:-( symbol left many in the field of intellectual property law stunned.
Quote: The decision to award Despair, Inc. with a registered trademark for the
Suzanna Larkow, I.P. specialist of Larkow, Madley & Associates, said of the issuance, "This is a defining moment in the history of intellectual property law. To extend official registration to an emoticon, one who's common usage predated the existence of the trademark holder by several years, defies common sense and establishes a dangerous precedent."
Umm, emoticons are rather older than AOL, dude. I'm pretty sure they were used on usenet since before the introduction of nntp, and I suspect they were probably used on multiuser systems before the internet.
Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
The idea that Microsoft invented any such thing is preposterous, and if the USPTO lawyer drones actually issue such a patent it will completely prove how totally clueless they are.
Patents are issued by patent examiners, not patent lawyers. Blame the engineers, computer scientists, biologists, chemists, and assorted scoundrels who actually are the ones issuing them.
Emotiflags sound awfully similar to... Mood Stamps found in Lotus Notes mail client dating back farther than I can remember.
The government which is strong enough to protect you from everything is strong enough to take everything from you.
As a patent holder myself, and having had to have discussions with the examiner from "law office 12" at the USPTO about my application, they are lawyers. Government employees, but lawyers to be sure.
By the sounds of the guy's voice on the phone a young and inexperienced lawyer. Working as a patent examiner, causing problems and mischief for us all due to that youth and inexperience.
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