You Might Be a Microsoft Patent Infringer

theodp writes "Do you use drop-down menus, alphanumerical input boxes, check boxes, radio buttons or sliders to allow client side-processing of data? Utilize SQL, HTML, ActiveX, Java, Perl, JavaScript or JScript to do so? Employ arrays, stacks, queues, linked lists, or decision trees to organize things? Well Bunky, you might be infringing on Microsoft's new patent for Dynamically adjusting data values and enforcing valid combinations of the data in response to remote user input, which the USPTO granted Tuesday after 6+ years and two rejections."

In other news...

[jack's wasted liver]

"Microsoft Patents 1, 0"

As if prior art......

[Nagatzhul]

will be hard to prove on this one. Good grief. What is next, a patent on oxygen?

wow

[GeoffKerr]

That's the biggest load of crap I've ever heard. They might as well try patenting the advanced, new technology called "thought"... that way they don't have to file a patent for anything new in the future when they want to take control over any new ideas. Next thing we know, they will be trying to take credit for writing Romeo and Juliet and say that it's been embedded in the Windows source since before Shakespeare was born.

Bright side: Free mod points

[isn't my name]

Hey, maybe this means that MS can stop Slashdot from keeping track of how many mod-points I have.

After all, Slashdot "[d]ynamically adjust[s] data values and enforc[es] valid combinations of the data in response to remote user input."

Re:wow

[Methlin]

Next thing we know, they will be trying to take credit for writing Romeo and Juliet and say that it's been embedded in the Windows source since before Shakespeare was born.

Well Microsoft's Windows programmers are the proverbial infinite number of monkeys banging away at typewriters (keyboards), so I don't see why not.

Congrats to the USPTO

[MarkGriz]

which the USPTO granted Tuesday after 6+ years and two rejections

They've successfully reduced Patent Examiner incompetence to 1 out of 3

Good news

[vijaya_chandra]

Employ arrays, stacks, queues, linked lists, or decision trees to organize things?


Finally some gain for not learning anything at school.
Everyone loses I gain.

You ARE an IBM patent infringer

[ENOENT]

Just so you know. It's not a matter of maybe.

Re:As if prior art......

[jerde]

> Good grief. What is next, a patent on oxygen?

Of course not, silly! You can't patent a thing... But do keep your eyes out for my patent on my new process for "using oxygen in a reaction with hydrocarbon compounds via enzymatic biological processes to generate energy to perpetuate living tissue."

God will have to license my patent, or I'll sue...

- Peter

Re:As if prior art......

[mrseigen]

Better patent the activity of patent licensing, too, just to be on the safe side.