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Apple Sued For Using Tabs In OS X Tiger
rizzo320 writes "AppleInsider is reporting that an Illinois-based company and its Nevada partner have filed a lawsuit against Apple Inc., alleging that Mac OS X 10.4 'Tiger' infringes an interface patent relating to the OS's nearly universal use of tabs. The suit was filed in the patent troll's and forum shopper's favorite venue: Marshall, TX. The patent in question is 5072412, which was originally issued to Xerox in 1987, but is now owned or licensed to IP Innovation LLC and its parent Technology Licensing Corporation. 'Category dividers triggered by Spotlight searches, as well as page tabs in the Safari web browser, bear the closest similarity to the now 20-year-old description' of the patent, according to the article. IP Innovation is requesting damages in excess of $20 million and an injunction against future sales and distribution of Mac OS X 10.4. Software patent reform can't come soon enough!"
So... Why did they suddenly decide to go after Apple now when Mozilla has been in, urm, flagrant violation of this supposed patent for much longer than Apple?
Still #1 -- Lonely Gay Geek
balls itch.
Seriously, I tried to read the patent text, but I didn't even get halfway through and my head is still spinning. Can anyone give an English translation of it?
Thats useful timing.
When is 10.5 coming out?
liqbase
When are industry or joe public going to stand up say enough is enough?
I watch this from another country and can't believe what I see...
So why is Marshall, Texas such a great venue for patent extortion? The city's web pages don't seem to have an answer, but it does seem to be a nice place.
One wonders if this boils down to a single judge, who might appreciate a free MacBook.
#!
What a joke. Maybe they should go and get the manilla folder people in on this too, because of their ingenious system of tabbed browsing.
http://trollscore.y7.yi.org/
No censorship. No fascism. No Zonk.
It's gotta be said that Xerox is responsible for most of the GUI's we see nowadays, and if anyone has a right to tabs or anything else in that area, they do, they did a hell of a lot of innovation. But the terms for patents in IT are far too long, and it is kinda unfair that Apple is singled out as well.
Tabbed UI, Apple Lisa, circa 1980. Screenshots, story.
I thought that patents expired after 20 years. Hypothetically, they could sue for past damages, but an injunction makes no sense on an expired (or about to expire) patent.
As far as I know tabs have existed and been popular long before computers even existed.
Im as much for patent reform as the next guy, but can we please have story summaries that state the NEWS ONLY?
Leave the comments ("patent troll", etc) for the, uh, comments.
Hey, I'm trying to see how many people who have low ID numbers are still using Slashdot. I know there must be a bunch of people with ID numbers lower than mine.
...
Although I admit that it is stupid, I still wish that I had signed up for my ID sooner so that I could have an even lower one. When CmdrTaco announced on Slashdot that accounts were available (before that everyone just typed whatever nickname they wanted to in with their posting - remember that?!?) I didn't bother to sign up until there was a topic I actually wanted to post about a few days later. If only I had signed up as soon as I saw the announcement I know I'd be under 100!!!
Anyway, here's some stuff:
- I started reading Slashdot back in '97 (or was it '98? Not sure. It was when it was really new and far and away the best place to get geeky news, especially about Linux). I don't remember how I first heard of it.
- I remember when it was called "Slashdot: News for Nerds on the Stuff That Matters". I always thought that the dropping of the "on the" clause signalled a corresponding drop of the geek-relevency of the articles.
- When Slashdot subscriptions were announced in (when was it? 2000? 2001?) I sent in $100. My original subscription STILL HASN'T RUN OUT!!! Although I have used up almost 9000 out of the 10000 ad-free page views I bought.
- I think I have scanned (not necessarily read) every headline on Slashdot since 1998, except for a period of two or three months last year when I got fed up with the lameness of the newer Slashdot admins, and decided to stop reading it regularly. But I came back because, well, I really like Slashdot despite the Zonks of the world. I have checked Slashdot two or three times a day at least daily since 1998, and for those occasions where I was away from a computer for weeks at a time (on vacations and stuff), I would go back and look at every back story that I missed in that time. It would take me hours or days after a long trip to "catch up" on Slashdot
- Whatever happend to that JonKatz dude or whatever his name was? He was the cause of my first usage of the slashdot preferences settings - to ban him from my view of Slashdot
- Also, whatever happened to those really cool "Ask Joe Shmoe" stories or whatever they were called where all of the Slashdot community would come up with questions for a guest celebrity? I know they still do them every once in a while but back when there was one per week they were really cool.
- To show off my Slashdot-Geek factor: I got married in 1999. My wife, unbeknownst to me at the time, was preparing a little "time capsule" to represent our lives together as a gift on our wedding day. It sounds really cheesy I know but it really was an awesome and beautiful thing. She made it out of doll furniture and other custom miniaturized little bits and pieces, and it was a scene representing all of the things that we had in our lives, under a little half-dome of glass. There were little representations of our pets, my motorcycle, the magazines that I subscribed to at the time, her cooking paraphenalia, etc. Anyway, there was also a little laptop in there for me, and she got one of my co-workers to write her instructions on how to take a "screenshot" (using xwd I think) of my Linux system, and while I wasn't looking one day, she snapped my browser when it was on Slashdot, printed it out, and shrunk it down to like 2 cm by 1.5 cm. And so I have this little laptop in our time capsule that is showing a Slashdot page from sometime in 1999. That's how much of a Slash-geek I am - my wife knew back then that Slashdot was such a big thing for me that it was worth immortalizing in our wedding time capsule!
- I have been a huge fan of Slashdot over the years (obviously) but get really tired of the increasing tendency of the articles to simply be controversial topics to drum up the post count. The number of "Random idiot study group says Windows is more secure than Linux" type trolling is getting wors
i think all software patents should be banned, whos next? Opera or mozilla/firefox web browser? fluxbox?
maybe even closed source software should be outlawed and make ALL software mandatory opensource...
this is getting ridiculous...
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
Patents in general are ridiculous. They hold back the advancement of humankind at the expense of ensuring financial security.
We as a race do all this work, create all these wonderful tools....for what?! For the sake of business? Surely we could find a greater cause.
Gotta love those screenshots!
That only applies to trademarks
Engineering is the art of compromise.
This approach has numerous benefits. It reduces your cash outlay (lawyer' fees) and risk. Secondly, once you have a judgement in your favour then it is easier to pick off the others with less court costs etc. It is probably easier to chase Apple than MS, so wait until you have more strength to chase them. Opera is too hard to chase (Offshore)
Engineering is the art of compromise.
IANAL, so let me rephrase that in layman's terms.
The patent basically looks like it covers anthing resembling a modern user interface.
The patent more specifically stresses mechanics like the Opera/IE/Mozilla browser tabs, spreadsheet "workbooks", the Windows taskbar, you name it.
So, in other words, just about any software on the market today.
Well, that's what I seemed to gather from the passing glance I gate the patent text. So I might be wrong. Please correct me if that's the case.
Assuming I'm right, this is a "blanket patent" that can be sicced on anybody they chose to.
One would expect them to go after several small companies at once, with several lesser damage claims, companies that might not afford to pay a lawyer.
Instead, they go after a rather large company (again, correct me if I'm wrong, but Apple is a pretty big company), and claim a relatively unimpressive sum (20+ mil).
I could only suppose again that damage claims must be related to number of users that the product was sold to (or somesuch).
Still, going after Microsoft and claiming damage for... heh... EVERYTHING Windows and Windows-based Microsoft ever made and sold, now that would be a huge sum we're talking about.
Claiming Apple wouldn't have the money to go into court for this is pretty ridiculous... well, unless, maybe they're counting on Apple settling out of court for such a paltry sum ?
I can only hope they get smashed in court, and smashed good.
By reading this signature you agree to not disagree with the post you just read.
Oh wait, I guess it took them 2 years to learn how to write a letter.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
If you don't know what Cmd-Shift-1 and Cmd-Shift-2 are for, GTFO.
If you think Firefox is a decent Mac application, GTFO.
If you're still looking for the "maximize" button, GTFO.
If the name "Clarus" means nothing to you, GTFO.
Bandwagon jumpers are not welcome among real Mac users. Keep your filthy, beige PC fingers to yourself.
If they're suing they presumably failed to convince Apple to license this amazing invention. Who else did they approach? Has a certain company licensed this patent knowing the trolls will cause undue harm to the software industry?
What are they basing damages on, what financial loss has this company (that produces no products) experienced because of Apple's UI design? I really hope Apple do the right thing and fight this one, software development in the US is going to reach a standstill unless this crap ends.
What other products infringe? Firefox, Java (JTabbedPane), Websites?
All your tabs are belong to us!
It seems to me that venue shopping is the thing that needs to go here. The idea that it is possible to pick and choose who gets to decide on the lawsuit based upon how easy it will be to win simply boggles the mind.
IP Innovation sues for a 20 years old patent they bought from Xerox... good thing those software patents things. It's a pitty the rest of patents don't go the same way, patenting the "four wheeled vehicle with engine" would have been a smart move.
DON'T PANIC
It will not be until
a) Big companies are hurt badly by ludicrous patent claims.
b) They buy, I mean, lobby politicians to kill software patents in the US
that we will have something resembling sanity.
Companies can use copyright to protect what is theirs and shoulder the fact that other people will copy their good ideas, that would benefit everybody.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
There you have it. Apple, the cake, and eating it, etc.
Anyway, I hope that DRM will fall through as horribly as this will. Fucking hypocrites.
Pfft, the way Jobsie robs us all blind, I'm sure its just Karmas way of getting back at him..
Mac OS System 8 (IIRC) had tabs too, for spring-loaded folders.
ops or any of the the project to where it was when *BSD has steadily Since then. More and c0mmittees 4, which by aal fate. Let's not be and that the floor
I mean come on, their name is IP Innovation LLC ffs.
Why, yes! I AM new here.
Opera could be a good second target. Not too much money, but not too small a company.
These patent lawsuits are getting ridiculous.
Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, START
They are suing them because of the universal tabs bnot just the use in the web browser.
os/2 warp ad tab for almost everything would that not invalidate this pattent since it was granted in 1991 and os/2 predate this ?
Microsoft has money too, and they put in tabs in the new version.
And to think how all the browser folks have been squabbling about who had them first...
I can't see how prior art could be difficult. Paper filing systems have had "tab" technology for something like 150 years or longer. In fact, the courthouse will probably be full of examples.
Like when you buy a house you get title insurance just in case all the lawyers missed some old title to your house somewhere. Is there a patent insurance that protects the company from the person who patented the idea?
Can I bum a sig?
NeXTstep had an optional pop-up main menu which was mapped to the secondary mouse button when it was enabled --- its handiness varies on the intricacy of the motion required --- ``Punch'' in Altsys Virtuoso is nearly a gestural command for me (esp. on my Wacom ArtZ tablet --- click, down, over to the right through two menus).
I believe there's a kext which makes this happen for Cocoa apps in Mac OS X, but it's of limited utility for those of us who have to spend a lot of time in Carbon apps.
I'd liefer not waste space on simultaneous multiple menus myself --- just crank up the mouse acceleration factor (I use MouseZoom on my dual 17" display setup at work) to get to them quickly.
William
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
If only I'd patented my 'cure for disease' when I had the chance.
There are 10 kinds of people in this world: those who understand binary, and nine other kinds of people.
These two "companies" are obviously in the business of acquiring intellectual property patents in order to file lawsuits. This is hardly a business.
Isn't there a time limit on filing patent suits? If the patent is over 20 years old then isn't this way out of date?
that's your competition.
Your peers are those working in your area. Since the only legitimate business of "Murderer" is actually "Soldier", your peers would be "other soldiers". I would call that trial by soldier court a court in a martial theme. Or, simply a court martial.
Maybe I should patent that idea..?
Here's one company, essentially not inventing or producing anything, but they're sitting on a patent. This alone gives them the right to milk anyone who dares to invent something that their patent (which is worded in a way that it would include pretty much everything from egg cookers to gas power plant control panels) allegedly covers, to bully the inventor into paying them whatever sum of money they deem right.
They serve no purpose, produce nothing, don't add to the amount of goods and services circulating and are generally harmful to invention and commerce in general. In a working free market model, those companies would cease to exist immediately.
Unfortunately, we're far from a free market.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
We don't need a Software Patent reform, we need it to have a quite sudden early retirement.
If you have a nice glass broken in two halves, you can consider glueing it together again.
If it's broken in thousands of miniscule pieces... you simple throw it away.
Software Patents are like glass broken in thousands of dangerous miniscule shards that if ingested only hurt the industry by the inside.
Retire it. Now!
Shouldn't have it expired by now?
Thanks,
Mike
Patents provide the low-hanging fruit in this area, but the actual problem goes much deeper.
As we all know here, software patents are wholly inappropriate in software, as they undermine the very basis of computing. But as long as companies are free to engage lawyers to litigate as a business plan, no amount of patent reform will fix this issue, because lawyers can literally create a case out of nothing. And they do so regularly, as we've seen in hundreds of examples recently.
The problem lies in part with lawyers (basically for being pricks without any moral standing, and happily taking money for their services regardless of purpose), and in part with judges and the judicial system as a whole, for not applying massive penalties to lawyers who use law merely to underpin a company business plan. Judges need to see through the purpose of a suit, and stomp heavily on lawsuits being used purely as a means of financial gain. The reason we've got into this mess is largely because lawyers benefit from all litigation, and judges have no interest in stopping that.
A complete ban on software patents would at least place that low-hanging fruit out of reach, but it won't solve the greater problem faced by corporate America, which is that it is at the mercy of a huge tier of parasites wearing suits, whose whole idea of worthwhile activity is to prevent worthwhile activity by others. Lawsuits are being used as an anti-competitive weapon by every man and his dog now, and that's the key problem here.
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
"Mac OS X 10.4 'Tiger' infringes an interface patent relating to the OS's nearly universal use of tabs."
What the heck? I sit here on a Mac mini running Tiger. Only Safari has tabs, and that only occured after a LOT of bitching from users. Where is the universal use of tabs at? I had to install Path Finder to get a tabbed finder interface.
Not one of the iLife applications uses tabs. iTunes, no tabs. Mail, no tabs. iCal, Address Book, no tabs. Even XCode, no tabs.
Oh! Tabs. I was thought I ws going to get into trouble.. I allready removed the tab key from my keyboard. I programm in Visual Studio and have occasionally used the tab control in my programs without notifiying this company. Is all my software in violation?
Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit!
How can someone get a patent for tabbed page navigation, is what beats me. Its really the only way to offer that particular functionality. Ring-binders and pocket phone books have had them for eons. Heck, the navbar on the left of this page could be considered a tabbed-index, from a functionality stand-point. When you think of it like that, what does that leave for 'originality', the mere appearance of the tab resembling a real-world example? Hardly a patentable innovation.
Can someone in the know explain haw patent expiry works in US law? Here in Britain, patents last for 17 years, but can somesimes be extended to 20, so this patent filed March 25, 1987 wouldn't be valid - unless it's the date the patent is granted not the filing date that counts?
A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
So that why they haven't implemented this yet. I knew there must be a reason.
I have excellent Karma and I am not afraid to Troll it.
Took so long to file becuase they had to check on prior art on filing software patent suits...
...but this makes me think of how Mac OS 8 allowed you to stick directory windows at the bottom of the screen and have a tab button that popped up when you clicked on it. Could this be an example of prior art?
"Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master."
What is your citation for the implication that estoppel by laches applies only to trademarks?
I know this will probably kill karma, but here goes.
"IP Innovation is requesting damages in excess of $20 million and an injunction against future sales and distribution of Mac OS X 10.4. Software patent reform can't come soon enough!"
I really have to wonder if the article summary would have just cheered wildly and forgotten about patent reform for a few minutes if it had been MS they were suing, or if all the fans of Apple and MS bashers would have taken a break to still support the bigger issue on this one.
Queue the Vince McMahon Music ....
... these are APPLE lawers ... impecably dressed, chi-centered, zen-bhuddist, miso soup sipping legal ass kicking machines. They also tote the coolest damn industrial-designed breifcases you've ever seen.
... no chance in hell.
Apple beat the Beatles after like a 20 year court battle over the name "Apple".
Apple's lawyers are fueled by an enormous never ending supply of hipster money from it's iPod sales. These are no ordinary lawyers
no chance
...But I see a point to the other poster's argument. I switched to Mac OS X from windows for about a week, and all the while I was using it, aside from mouse issues, it took me a while to get used to the single menu bar. It felt like something was missing from all of my apps, but seeing as how M$ is trying to do that anyway (see Office 2k7, WMP, and IE7 with default settings), it was easy to accept.
Nonetheless, as time wore on, I found myself clicking the menu very infrequently. I moved almost completely over to keyboard shortcuts and had to use the objectdock to determine what apps were open (because that damn X doesn't close anything, so I almost never used it) and I had to look at the menu bar to see what was in focus. I never even thought of what a nightmare multiple monitors might be with relation to that menu. Still, WinXP doesn't scale the taskbar to multiple monitors elegantly (or at all), but then again, it doesn't rely on the taskbar like OS X does on its menu.
While I don't forsee anyone switching to 18 monitors anytime soon, I always like to keep in mind that the only implementations that survive in the IT field are those that meet one demand: Scalability.
Boot Windows, Linux, and ESX over the network for free.
Am I missing something here? The patent was filed on March 25, 1987. The motion was filed April 18th, 2007. Patents last 20 years. These asshats lost their case by a few weeks. (OK, sure, Apple's OS was probably infringing before the patent expired, too bad they didn't file then)
Returned Peace Corps IT Volunteer
2007 - 1987 = 20 years. Utility patents last 14 years from date of filing, utility patents last 20.
How's this patent even still...well, patented?
Look at all the tabs in this screenshot.
Apple was a pioneer of these sort of bullshit "look and feel" suits.
It's nice to see corporations hoist by their own petard.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Your IP law provides for some the best soap opera in town. It just keeps getting better every day. The idea of "reform" is a complete fantasy, and it nothing but a vain attempt to keep the whole system afloat and to make sure the public doesn't wake from its slumber and demand a real fix in the form of complete abolition. That would be the only reason the biggies are behind it. And they need it fast! If it isn't fixed before the campaign season gets seriously underway, it could very well become an issue if we can make enough noise about it and rile up the natives. I can always hope, right? Abolitionists unite!
What?
According to wikipedia, patents expire something like 17-20 years after being issued in the US. A 1987 patent should expire this year, shouldn't it?
Tiger Toes. You know the old game rhyme, 'catch a tiger by it's toe, if he hollers let him go, my mama told me to pick the very best one and you are IT!'
See IT is in that rhyme and the 'buttons' that get clicked are simply graphical representations of Tiger Toes... you pick one and then it's the one you picked. Simple really and it has nothing to do with tabs.. which BTW are taken from paper organization products, which doesn't make any sense on a computer.
Furthermore: Ladies and gentlemen of this supposed jury, it does not make sense! If Chewbacca lives on Endor, you must acquit!
A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
...with virtual desktops would then also infringe on this patent. Any prior art?
Apple System 7.5 had tabs. Remember the Launcher control panel? There may have been earlier instances, but that's the first that came to mind.
System 7.5 came out in 1994. Thirteen years is a long time to wait to sue someone over patent infringement. Any lawyers care to comment?
http://www.bynarystudio.com
or is that abuse tabs?
anyway, how can they now sue apple after everyone has used tabs for at least a decade?
hell, OS/2 had tabs. and it's been dead as longer than windows and of course, BSD.
Not more of this "look and feel" B.S.
He who laughs last...probably didn't get the joke.
"God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. ...
The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is
wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts
they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions,
it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty.
And what country can preserve its liberties, if it's rulers are not
warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of
resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as
to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost
in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from
time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
It is its natural manure."
I think this text is interesting in conjunction with the current patent situation...
(If you want to know who wrote what I quoted, I recommend googling it, you might learn something:) )
I'm pretty ready to see the justice system get an upgrade to 21 century standards.
Lawsuits cost money and they seem to be a loss a majority of the time. It's costly to tax payers and to companies alike. I think it's about time for suits such as this to be paid in full by the losing side.
Doing so would deter frivolous lawsuits such as this one and force companies to strongly consider the losing consequences of going after the big money, such as Apple.
In addition to the legal system needing reformation, so does the patent system. I have no issue with inventions being safeguarded, but what the hell? Tabs?!
Generalizations such as universal tabs are ridiculous and should be thrown out of the patent office.
I'm ready for patent reform!
http://www.allometry.com
I can't believe that people are still having the top menubar vs. window menubar argument. This has been tried and tested by (non-Apple) research labs, with people who are used to repeated movements. No matter how fast you think you are at 'precision' mouse movements, you will be faster aiming at the edge of the screen. Especially if you use that well-practised precision to hit the right horizontal position.
Experienced or novice, accessing a menubar at the screen's edge is incontrovertibly faster that hitting any other target of the same size. What ever skill level you already have with the mouse plays into it as well, of course, but these advantages *are* cumulative -- unless you think that you are already moving the mouse at the speed of light, which can't be exceeded.
You have a point about the problem with multiple screens, but this should be solved by more intelligent positioning of the menubar on the local screen to the app, not by abandoning the best real estate available for the sake of the tiny minority of two screen users. Now THAT'S brain death, right there.
And BTW if you can't tell what app is in focus simply by reading the name that is always situated in the same place on the leading edge of the *very menubar you are targeting*, then you don't deserve to use a computer.
There are very clear problems with the patent system, but it is a misconception to think that it helps to outlaw software patents. Were things any better when software patents were disguised as device patents? Any piece of software is ultimately implemented in a physical device.
Suppose, for example, that advancing the timing on a car engine reduces emission of some pollutant. Can this be covered by a patent as long as you use mechanical devices to advance the timing, but not if you use a computer chip? What if you use digital logic rather than software?
The abstraction of method from implementation is exactly the difference between patents and copyright. If you want to fix the patent system, you need to fix the whole patent system. Outlawing software patents doesn't fix anything.
Slashdot uses tabs!
What?! Prevent Apple from selling 10.4? No worries... just stall this lawsuit long enough and they'll have Leopard out! Crafty, eh?
This is really laughable.
I think I'm going to patent this one: "method to evacuate digested matter".
I'm going to be rich!
When did it start and when does it expire (17 yrs later presumably)? I seem to remember tabs in products in software programs going back before 1990. How about HyperCard? http://weather-dimensions.com/tedkaehler/us/ted/re sume/hypercard_help.gif
I can see it now - "Your Honor, I'd like to request a jury made up of my fellow serial killers." "Is that a guilty plea I hear?"
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
Isn't there some limitation that if you fail to enforce a patent in a timely fashion from knowing something infringes your patent is rendered invalid? Or am I thinking of copyright or trademarks or something?
And if there isn't, there should be.
[The Universe] has gone offline.
Didn't file folders in a file drawer have tabs long before any software did?
If Microsoft couldn't squash the problem in a business-friendly government, Apple isn't going to have any better luck.
And the year was 1980.
...
In fact, I wrote the whole thing myself, back when I was a game designer.
Sounds like someone owes me a lot of money
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
"In 1981, a tabbed visual interface would have been groundbreaking."
In 1981, the HP 2621 smart terminal had a visual interface for configuring the terminal in which a set of tabs across the bottom of the screen, selected by function keys, displayed views of related configuration pages that retained their state and settings and you could jump back and forth between them.
Blaming capitalism is just blaming human nature and the failure of government to define the ideal battle field on which the barbaric "survival of the fittest" game is waged. Hey, humans are a pack of almost-rabid animals and that is why capitalism works so well.
The reason corporatism (where the USA is headed) is so evil is because it corrupts the government's job to define and referee the game. Then you have wars for commerce for example... Or you kill foreign leaders who are bad for business..
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
Will they go after Lotus/IBM for having tabs in the old Lotus Notes (say, back to 1996/1997)? Or, will they go after Lotus' and others' organizers? Will the suit be limited to browsers? Or expanded to anything on a computer display that organizes or differentiates document access portals?
Sheesh. Seems they waited to long to demonstrate due diligence. IP litigation is way, WAY out of hand.
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
Theyre'd be less confusion in these discussions if people read up on IP law, and if you don't want to buy the books, most libraries have copies. Doesn't mean one will not need a lawyer in some cases, but at least you all will be ahead in the discussions.
The person who owns the copyright for tabs is the guy who put tabs on the paper folders in our filing cabinets. Software is emulating the physical world. How can we forget that!?
Shame I can't vote you friend. Interestingly enough these IP discussions remind me of religious discussions with all the heat, and the "quoting" by people who think they understand what's between the quotes.
Which should mean it's expired.
The part I don't understand is that the patent has expired. Software pattents expire 14 years after they are granted http://www.clemson.edu/research/ottSite/ottStart_I ntelectPatents.htm#Duration. That is in 1991 according to the link that was provided in the summary. So I guess that they can sue for any infrigement before 2005. After that there is no protection on the idea. Going after the current version of OSX seems dumb because it is not covered by the patent.
In the early 1980's, Tom Rolander showed me a terminal (text) based office interface he was working on where you clicked on a file cabinet, clicked on a file folder, and displayed the contents of the file. I am pretty sure the folder was a form of tab. I was in the basement with Gary Kildall and Tom Rolander and their Vax on Lighthouse Ave in Pacific Grove, CA. That was back when I worked in OEM Systems at Digital Research.
I was using tabs in my filing system even before there was an internet and home computers. I am going to sue all of them!!!!
Adebisi
How could tabbing have been granted a patent anyway? It's just a virtual representation of a mechanical system used in card files - pryor art by any definition. J. H. Christey, there is some angrifying twaddle pedalled in the US courts.
"I hope you like Guinness, Sir. I find it a refreshing substitute for, er... food." Col. Jack O'Neil, SG-1
ID's ? yours is lower than mine
Must be the redefinition of "size-queen"
--- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..