Microsoft tries to patent emoticons >: ( (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Jacobson]

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/0,3...9210396,00.htm

 

[Christ Reynolds]

i would think this is the operative phrase here. as long as it doesnt get out of control, i dont see what the problem is.

CJ

 

[Marko Berg]

Software patents are a ludicrous idea in and of themselves, but this goes beyond that. It seems to me they are trying to patent works of art under the disguise of computer code. It's pathetic legislation that will allow this.

 

[ChristopherDAC]

Hey, if they're patented rather than copyrighted it'll only be 25 years before expiry rather than 95 or 120, and they won't be able to prosecute for criminal infringement!

 

[BrianB]

Where are they patenting the creations?

 

[MarkHastings]

I don't get it, what exactly are they trying to patent? Are they trying to patent the actual art, or are they trying to patent the code that translates a colon and an end parens into this -> .

It sounds like they are trying to patent the later.

 

[BrianB]

Neither.

They're trying to patent code they have that allows people to use an icon editor to design an emoticon & then let other people see the emoticon by converting the emoticon into a string of characters representing it & transferring that string to the other IM client instead of transferring the actual bitmap.