Cingular Patents the Emoticon? 231
massysett writes "Mobile phone carrier Cingular Wireless may have managed to get a patent on the emoticon. The patent describes a system for selecting a displayable icon to indicate the mood or emotion of the user. It also covers text-based emoticons, 'so presumably sending :) via an SMS - if selected via a dedicated or softkey, would be a breach of the patent in future.'" My response? >:/
Patent review (Score:5, Insightful)
This is simply... (Score:3, Insightful)
Activating an emoticon from tapping one key is NO different then activating something via a single Macro key, which has been used in applications and games for ages.
Writing a series of symbols out to be displayed as an emoticon is also soemthing that has been performed for ages.
Seriously, when will this patent frenzy of stupidity end?
What idiot approves these headlines? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:What idiot approves these headlines? (Score:2, Insightful)
Oh, OK. When you put it like that, it sounds like a legitimate use of the patent system. Novel, non-trivial, non-obvious, and all that.
Re:What idiot approves these headlines? (Score:3, Insightful)
And yet that doesn't make it any less ridiculous. Look, the original emoticons were around from the beginning of USENET [answers.com] and have been co-opted in all sorts of garish ways. They have become ubiquitous and you can't patent something that is such. This just points out how stupid the patent system has become. Isn't it possible people were texting smileys to each other before Cingular even existed?
Re:What idiot approves these headlines? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Patent review (Score:4, Insightful)
Perhaps when a few pension funds and other shareholders lose their shirts over patent scams, they'll make damn good and sure that nothing like this happens again.