brian@digi-g.UUCP (Merlyn Leroy <Brian Westley>) (11/28/84)
|@|__________ |Scrapbook | |Alarm Clock| |Netnews Bug|<-- ------------- Anyone want to speculate on what Apple is going to do with their patent of pop-up/pull-down menus? I believe they were granted a patent a few months ago - a lot of new, heavy duty software uses them (TopView, Windows, Symphony?). I kind of like the idea of Apple suing IBM, and throwing a big monkey wrench into their windowing environment. However, the blurb I read might be as accurate as the stuff printed up a couple of years ago, when someone was granted a patent having to do with color-coding phonetic diagrams or somesuch, and the story got out as someone getting a patent on *using color* on computer displays. Anyone have more info on what the patent covers/doesn't cover? Merlyn Leroy "No funny quotes"
chuqui@nsc.UUCP (Cheshire Chuqui) (12/07/84)
> > Anyone want to speculate on what Apple is going to do with their >patent of pop-up/pull-down menus? I believe they were granted a patent >a few months ago - a lot of new, heavy duty software uses them >(TopView, Windows, Symphony?). I kind of like the idea of Apple suing >IBM, and throwing a big monkey wrench into their windowing environment. Well, the first thing they are going to do is go to court. I've heard that xerox is already challenging the patent in court. The second thing I expect them to do is lose the patent because Xerox has been doing that with pop-up menus for a long, long, long time. The patent is unenforcable, and I expect Apple knows it. It might make a nice harrasement tool if Apple ever decides it needs one, it will definitely make Mac-compatible developers think twice because it gives Apple a way of dragging them into a nice expensive battle (even if Apples lawyers and the other people's lawyers KNOW it is unenforcable it could still cost them millions of dollars to prove it) and it gives the authors something nice to put on their resumes..... chuq (I ***love*** lawyers..) -- From the center of a Plaid pentagram: Chuq Von Rospach {cbosgd,decwrl,fortune,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo}!nsc!chuqui nsc!chuqui@decwrl.ARPA ~But you know, monsieur, that as long as she wears the claw of the dragon upon her breast you can do nothing-- her soul belongs to me!~