US PTO Gives Microsoft Credit For Lotus's Homework

theodp writes "On Tuesday, the USPTO granted Microsoft a patent for 'Email Emotiflags' despite ample evidence of a circa-1996 Lotus Notes precedent called Mood Stamps — sender-chosen emoticons that appear next to inbox messages. Among those seemingly aware of the existence of Mood Stamps is Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie, who appears to have fielded questions about the feature while at Lotus. While simply Googling for 'Email Emotiflags' would have turned up evidence of this prior art (including a Slashdot discussion), the USPTO came up empty after instead going with the more-upscale Google Scholar and patent databases for its search effort. Think we can count on Ozzie to do the right thing and give the USPTO a heads-up?"

Comments

Count on Ozzie?

[Anonymous Coward]

That bathead-biting Satanic drug-addled reality-TV participant? You've got to be joking.

Re:Count on Ozzie?

[just_another_sean]

No, the other Ozzie, the guy who invented Lotus Notes. Which just might make him even more of a lunatic then the Ozzie you're referring to!

Re:Clearly Slashdot is better than Google

[Tanktalus]

You really shouldn't post off-the-cuff like that. Put some more thought into it, and see if you can't come up with something really nasty.

Re:Failed plaintiff case should compensate defende

[Desolation Row]

The US has a very strict "loser pays" structure, where "loser" is defined as taxpayers without their own personal lawyer and lobbyist militia.

Re:Clearly Slashdot is better than Google

[Synchis]

Indeed.

We have a similar system for punishing corrupt high ranking gov't officials here in Canada too...

Except instead of executing them, We scour at them menacingly, give them a cushy gov't pension and send them home to write their memoirs and have them published.

Oh, and we make them say sorry.

Re:Clearly Slashdot is better than Google

[dgatwood]

I think that by focusing on prior art, you are all missing the real point of this story. This shows why software patents are sometimes good. This patent ensures beyond a reasonable doubt that grotesque user interface abuses like this one never make it into any generally accepted standard....