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Google Patents Browser Highlight All Button

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the wish-i-thought-of-that dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Google has picked up another patent on a technology that you might think basic to the web: the highlight all button for searches in browsers. The patent will backdate to 1999 and presents an interesting problem for such software as the Firefox browser and FeedDemon RSS reader. And, in an interesting twist, Microsoft uses a similar mechanism in Windows Explorer. But Microsoft itself said that browser technology can't be separated from the operating system. Does that mean the company owes a royalty to Google for all those copies of Windows?"

5 of 150 comments (clear)

  1. Does that mean the company owes a royalty to Googl by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    No, it means software patents are shitty.

  2. Seriously by TheL0ser · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Can we just find every single patent that mentions "on a computer" or "in a browser" and have a bonfire?

  3. What a Mess.... by Haedrian · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Wasn't there ever a clause in patents SOMEWHERE, which said you couldn't patent something which an 'average expert in the field' could come up with?

    Because there are quite a few 5 year olds who could have thought this up.

    1. Re:What a Mess.... by Sonny+Yatsen · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That'd be the "Person of Ordinary Skill in the Art" standard for obviousness. Of course, that standard is applied to a POSITA at the time of invention (i.e. 1999) rather than a POSITA today.

      --
      My postings are informational and does not constitute legal advice. Act on it at your risk.
  4. Re: am I missing something? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    > am I missing something?
    Yes. Deep pockets.