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Microsoft Applies For Patent On Tufte's Sparklines

Posted by timothy on from the audacity-of-patents dept.

jenkin sear writes "Data visualization guru Edward Tufte developed Sparklines, a great way to display condensed data as an inline graphic. Excel's new version has incorporated the design element — and Microsoft has applied for a patent on them — without so much as a by-your-leave from Tufte."

1 of 175 comments (clear)

  1. Re:It's not a patent for Sparklines themselves by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Ok, so if I have to push a button to update it, it's not covered? If I don't embed it but, say, just have an external application retrieve data from a spreadsheet, it's not covered?

    Yes, I'm hanging on technicalities. But when you look at it closely, the whole software patent BS is about technicalities and not much more. We're talking about (usually) so obvious applications that a 5 year old wouldn't only get the idea but actually say "duh" when you present it to him.

    Maybe that would be a good metric. The patent clerc should tell his 5 year old about the idea. If he says "duh", it's not patentable.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.