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Microsoft Applies For Patent On Private Browsing
PhilDEE writes "Microsoft is in the process of applying for two patents for a private browsing mode in their next version of Internet Explorer — a feature already present in Safari, among other browsers."
best firefox extension ever.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
1. Search for useful features already in use by other products
2. Patent the unpatented
3. ???
4. PROFIT $$
We didn't make it first, but that won't stop us from trying to patent it!
People say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Why? Is there any shortage of bad ones?
They aren't patent applications, they're trademark applications. Check the source
BIG difference.
Patents==Bad and subject to prior art.
Trademarks==Good, and not subject to prior art.
The original CERN WWW browser didn't keep cookies, didn't maintain a history, and didn't cache pages. Is that therefore prior art?
Then again, my coffee cup does none of those things either - it doesn't even browse Web pages. Now *that*'s privacy...
How can you patent the absence of a feature (or more accurately, disabling a feature)?
This is after all, both an MS story, AND a Patent story.
lYou would actually expect them to innovate in a Patent Application, would you?
I mean, that just reeks of giving in to non-corporate expectations.
This space for rent. All reasonable inquiries will be entertained at proprietors discretion.
I've got a business process patent that I think Microsoft should be aware of: "A specific process and procedure for patenting pre-existing technology in order to build a patent portfolio which can be leveraged using the court system to gain substantive competitive advantage."
putting a private browser mode on IE is like putting a shit filter on your ass. Or a lameness filter oin slashdot.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
I always use it to clear my browser cache when I have been looking for presents for my wife.
This is all wrong. Microsoft did not apply for patents, they applied for trademarks for the names they're giving the features, namely "ClearTracks" and "InPrivate". Unless you can find existing use for those names in privacy software you're not likely to find any objections to the trademark applications. Trademarks are not a claim of invention and in no way prevent others from implementing the exact same ideas or algorithms. They're simply a claim to a name in a specific context.
Even the original blogger got it right:
http://www.istartedsomething.com/20080820/microsoft-hints-private-browsing-feature-ie/
I don't expect Slashdot to actually fix the summary, though. The word "patent" will generate a lot traffic, whereas everyone will simply yawn over "trademark".
the web browser already? Is it too late?
How can they seriously apply for a patent for something that's been around for at least three years? Maybe they actually have a novel implementation of the concept but I kind of doubt that.
FTFA:
Users may wish to turn on the privacy mode if they are planning a surprise party, buying presents or researching a medical condition and do not want others users of the same computer to find out.
Yeah, right...
Users may wish to turn on the privacy mode if they are planning a surprise party, buying presents or researching a medical condition and do not want others users of the same computer to find out.
Uh, yeah. Surprise party. Buying presents. That's what I was doing.
I say we call a shovel a shovel (or whatever).
Let's trademark P0rnModeâ. Then _everyone_ knows what the heck that option does.
While searching the patent numbers, it appears that this story is not even about patents:
http://www.istartedsomething.com/20080820/microsoft-hints-private-browsing-feature-ie/
"On July 30th, Microsoft filed two trademarks for:"
So please CmdrTaco, update your article.
Best,
URL: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-cow-catcher.htm
Guess Microsoft is just providing an updated slant on how to keep the dung out..
Lost in space at an early age. Survived the vacuum. Now rebuilding castle in air.
I don't see the problem with Microsoft patenting or trademarking ideas that Apple has already shipped. I mean, they've done it before and gotten away with it...
Generally, bash is superior to python in those environments where python is not installed.
This is just like their tabbed browsing patent.
M$ Business model: find an unpatented feature in an open source browser. Implement it in IE, then patent it. Sue the pants of the people who dared infringe on it.
This is the standard post mentioning the apparently humorous idea of patenting the idea of patenting obvious ideas, thus being able to sue companies like Microsoft who do so (a joke that is often described as "ironic," even though it isn't). This joke occurs in each article pertaining to obvious patents that appears in Slashdot's Patents section, though from this point forward I will be taking personal responsibility for including it, freeing others to focus on making more original and insightful criticisms of the USPTO.
Thank you for visiting the Slashdot Patents section.
private browsing
You mean Porn browsing, right?
So, would the Patent Reform Act of 2007 allow companies like MS actually patent stuff like this as long as they were the first to file?
The IOC suing businesses on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State for having "Olympic" in their names.
What's new?
The fact that you're using WinME???
Proudly supporting the Libertarian Party.
That a patent is about HOW to do something, not the end result. So, just because Safari and Firefox have a similar feature doesn't mean that Microsoft is out in left field applying for a patent in the same area.
Why BBC would translate trademark->patent for no apparent reason is a good question though.
A single government agency handles U.S. patents and U.S. trademarks. Might that have something to do with it?
about you guys, but I always do my browsing in private.
Isn't part of the patent process to determine if prior art already exists? If so Microsoft doesn't have a chance of getting a patent on this, particularly since much of the prior art is GPL anyhow.
And next on news at 11, JC Penney patents the changing room concept.
Your coffee cup is offline? Not even bluetooth? How do your temp and level sensors function? Is it a maintenance issue or is this one of those retro 'china' cups?
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Even if the Browser leaves no traces, who controls its plugins (e.g. Shockwave's flash cookies) or the local DNS caches?
;-)
For the latter let's take a look at OSX (10.5.x). Even if you use Safari's private browsing feature, you or any user currently logged in can take a peak at the current DNS cache via DirectoryService, which includes all those pr0n sites you'd like to hide from your significant other. All it takes is a simple terminal command:
dscacheutil -cachedump -entries Host
It'll depend on your personal paranoia level to define how private private browsing really is.
There already is a very similar software product called "TracksClear". I would imagine that "ClearTracks" will be sufficently confusing.
Your ad here. Ask me how!
Neither one of those are super-enforceable. Unique names in sound and spelling are worthy of a truly enforceable trademark.
These trademarks are not unique in as much they ram two common words together. I know it's done "all of the time" but that doesn't mean they are perfectly defensible.
Trademarks like this are commonly used to drown your smaller competitors in legal bills by filing infringement claim after infringement claim. Nothing else.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
A very good summary of Trademark abuse.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
and don't forget to draw the blinds closed.
It's good that microsoft wants to help people get a little private time with their browser.
They're using their grammar skills there.
Luckily for you and you obviously over-used Righteous Anger Gland, the BBC got it wrong.
As mentioned below, they're trademarks, not patents.
"It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him." - Tolkien
"Users may wish to turn on the privacy mode if they are planning a surprise party, buying presents or researching a medical condition and do not want others users of the same computer to find out."... Or for surfing porn. ;)
--
Luck is just skill you didn't know you had.
http://jimmyakin.typepad.com/defensor_fidei/2005/01/coke_contra_mun.html/
and
http://popvssoda.com:2998/countystats/total-county.html/
explain how they use "Coke" as a generic term for carbonated beverage.
.
The Slashdot editor publishes whatever falls into his hands.
The quick-on-the-jump Slashdot poster responds instantly to the hot buttons pressed in the summary --- and can't hold back his fire even when a story has been exposed as utter nonsense.
Pavlov's dogs couldn't be better trained.
Software patents, huh, what are they good for? Absolutely, nothing.
I would so much rather have a browser that has the option of not recording or logging anything at all instead of one that "clears" or "erases" my tracks after that. If anything is ever stored that is a vector for someone to somehow capture that data. I would like something that only uses that data for precisely as long as it needs to to do the job and keeps no history or metadata in any way, shape, or form.
...I hope someone burns down their Open Source Lab.
Hypocritical idiots.
When is this stupid loser company going to learn?
Trademarks can't be revoked because of prior art? That's bad not good. If I create a brand but don't trademark the label then someone else can come long and trademark it denying me the use of what I created. That's bad not good.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
I checked to see if the terms were used differently in the UK compared to the USA. Trademark is apparently spelled Trade Mark over there, but otherwise the ideas seem similar. I suppose it's possible the blog was wrong initially and corrected later, but I can't find any evidence of that in the comments. I think the BBC just screwed up. I also think I just put more effort into researching what I wrote than the BBC did.
Knowledge is the small part of ignorance that we arrange and classify. (Ambrose Bierce)
Does this mean IE will clean up after itself for once?
Obviously the fact that basically EVERYONE missed this points out how few people are commenting on the article vice on how much they hate Microsoft. No this isn't Flaimbait, it's true. Why else would someone overlook the fact that it's NOT a patent, never WAS a patent, and that it's in fact a fucking TRADEMARK? HUGE difference. you can use the idea, just not the name. Nothing to see here, move along.
Natalie Portman. (obligatory reference.)
Speak for yourself.
How did this make NEWS??? Sure we're all happy MicroGarbage finally is catching up to browsers like Opera and FF. If only they would have implemented this about 10 years ago when other browsers did. Talk about a johnny-come-lately. Microsoft sucks beyond words.
There's a somewhat (sadly) unknown Firefox addon called SecureBrowse (disclosure: my idea, and my colleagues developed it; I don't grok JS!) that does something somewhat similar.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5967
We released an FF3 version, but it was sent back to the sandbox because it clashed with some other extension. We're looking into it but meanwhile you can get the FF3 compatible version from the sandbox (easy enough to find but I'll happily provide instructions if someone asks... sitaramc at gmail dot com or will even send it to you)