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Google Patents Displaying Patents

Posted by timothy on from the on-the-internet dept.

theodp writes "Google has actually managed to patent displaying patents. The USPTO issued US Patent No. D603,866 to six Google inventors for their 'graphical user interface for display screen of a communications terminal.' Among the six inventors is the guy who introduced Google Patents. Ironically, Google Patents can't seem to find the new Google patent for Google Patents."

4 of 93 comments (clear)

  1. No, they didn't by Halo1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They got a design patent. That's something complete different from a regular patent.

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  2. Re:Uh... by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 5, Informative

    The summary's misleading. It isn't the displaying of patents that Google patented, it is the particular Web GUI that they patented. Which is, mind you, fairly unique in that it displays the original images quickly and uses particularly unique layout for the display of the very intuitive controls.

    Not that I agree with software patents, I think they're stupid, but under current patent laws, what they patented seems to meet the standard for what is patentable.

    (IANAL, TINLA, bleh.)

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  3. Re:Google's strange stance by houstonbofh · · Score: 5, Funny

    Just makes me think of an old Danny D'vito quote from Other Peoples Money.
    "Of course I've got lawyers. They are like nuclear weapons: I've got em coz everyone else has. But as soon as you use them they screw everything up."

  4. Oblig... by Cryacin · · Score: 5, Funny

    "It's a coffee table book... about coffee tables!!!"

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