Slashdot Mirror
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?"
I've been involved in a few patent litigations. They almost always settle out of court or the plaintiff loses outright in court. The problem is that even when the defense 'wins' the case, they still spend millions in that defense. Why not force the plaintiff to compensate the defense for causing them to waste so much money?
That's known as "loser pays" and will have such a chilling effect on frivolous litigation that the legal lobbies will not let it happen without a huge fight.
Merely suggesting it is political suicide.