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Yahoo Patents 'Smart' Drag and Drop

Posted by Zonk on from the will-wonders-never-cease dept.

Unequivocal writes "According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Yahoo has filed a patent for 'smart' drag and drop. From the article: 'A computer-implemented method for manipulating objects in a user interface, comprising: providing the user interface including a first interface object operable to be selected and moved within the user interface; and in response to selection and movement of the first interface object in the user interface, presenting at least one additional interface object in the user interface in proximity of the first interface object, each additional interface object representing a drop target with which the first interface object may be associated.' How do these patent claims differ from normal drag and drop? In pretty trivial ways if at all, but it may be hard for a patent examiner to understand that trivial changes in drag and drop user interface are not in fact novel enough to warrant a patent. If Yahoo gets this patent, they'll have a mighty big stick to shake at competitors."

7 of 128 comments (clear)

  1. NeverWinter Nights by ilithiiri · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Wouldn't this describe NWN interface?
    Drag, choose option, drag some more..

    --
    If anyone can hear me, slap some sense into me But you turn your head, and I end up talking to myself
    1. Re:NeverWinter Nights by SQLGuru · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What about the task bar in Windows 95 and beyond? I can drag a file from an Explorer window to the task bar, make a Window get focus so I can drop it on that Window......

      I don't understand from TFA (which I read...I did not read, however, TFPA) what makes their system so smart? Is it the pop-up text that says "Move to Top"? Or just that it does what I want it to do?

      Layne

    2. Re:NeverWinter Nights by CastrTroy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      How is anybody supposed to program anything with the way these patents are worded? I have no clue what they are even talking about. Each patent should be able to explain something in plain english as to what they are actually patenting.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
  2. Hey, something just occurred to me by Rogerborg · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Patent tax revenues are backdated to the day of filing. So patent trolls are claiming that all those inventions that were suddenly extant and infringing on day 0 didn't exist as prior art on day -1. They just appeared fully formed overnight.

    How can anyone working in the patent racket sleep at night? It must be where lawyers end up when even child molesters, cannibals and politicians won't employ them any more.

    --
    If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
  3. What competitors? by Trevin · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Every windowing system in existence? How could Yahoo! possibly implement a drag-and-drop interface without the support of a window system that has already implemented it (whether they use the window system's native drag-and-drop or not)?

  4. Let's get as many of these granted as possible. by scsirob · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If every company submitting such silly and obvious pattent applications gets their way then the system is bound to collapse. Business as the USA knows it will come to a halt, because each and every piece of equipment is being threatened by dozens of lawsuits.

    Fine. Let it happen. China and India will be more than happy to ignore US patents and create new economies on that. It's already happening and stupid stuff like this will only help to make the process go faster.

    --
    To Terminate, or not to Terminate, that's the question - SCSIROB
  5. PhotoShop too by moderatorrater · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This also sounds a lot like Photoshop's guidelines that they've had for several years. There's got to be more to this patent than this.