more on Microsoft patents the double-click?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: odlyzko () dtc umn edu (Andrew Odlyzko)
Date: June 5, 2004 12:10:23 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: Microsoft patents the double-click?

Dave,

It is hard to tell which is more amusing/appalling (depending on one's
point of view), the Microsoft patent or people wondering about the
correctness of the story, and looking for the popular press article
on a newspaper's site and on Google, but not checking out the official
(and relative easy to use) U.S. Patent and Trademark Office site,

  http://www.uspto.gov/

(Many trivial Google searches will lead one there, for example through  
the
first hit on "us patent office".)

Searching there for utility patent  6,727,830 (number was listed in
the initial posting) does produce a patent issued April 27, 2004
(filed July 12, 2002), assigned to Microsoft, with inventors
Charlton E. Lui and Jeffrey R. Blum, entitled " Time based hardware
button for application launch."  It's at

   
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser? 
Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/ 
srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6,727,830.WKU.&OS=PN/6,727,830&RS=PN/ 
6,727,830

I am not an expert on intellectual property in this area, but it is
awfully hard to believe this could stand up to any serious challenge.

Best regards,
Andrew

P.S.  (Feel free to post this to IP).

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