New Microsoft patent

The IP system needs a serious overhaul tbh, especially where MS is concerned. As this month's PC Plus said, MS now has over 8,500 patents with 15,000 pending. It also applies for a further 3,000 new ones on average each year. Linus Torvalds, founding father of Linux, was quoted as saying:

Linus Torvalds said:
When you're a convicted monopolist in the marketplace, you really should not be suing your competitors over patents.
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Interesting stuff.
 
I use page up and down all the time...

However there is considerable prior art in the use of page based rather than line based movement dating way back.

My MBP has page ^ and page v keys...

You know what I'm going to patent the QWERTY keyboard, the power on button and the eject button too.. oh also caps lock and the little light that goes with it.
 
Delvis said:
How will this work exactly.
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Each new version of Windows will have a counter that gets triggered each time you use either the Page Up or Page Down key, so that they can track the number of times you use it. You'll then have to pay* a tax to Microsoft based on the number of times the counter increases.





* nb - usage of the Page Up / Page Down keys will be free of charge when used in relation to security patches and hotfixes.
 
how long have those keys been on the keyboard? and only now has MS put a patent on them. are they struggeling for patent ideas?
 
I suspect either someone is taking the mickey, or making a point somewhere, assuming ms did apply for that patent.

As it stands it would probably get thrown out at the first challange as it's well documented that prior art for it exists going back 20 years prior to the patent application, and once there is prior art the patent is invalid unless it achieves the end result in a new/different way.

The US patent system is however in desperate need of an overhaul, as it's badly underfunded and understaffed with most of the checks that are meant to be done prior to a patent being approved being rubber stamped, with the idea that the courts can sort it out.
 
MooMoo444 said:
I dont really use page up/page down keys anyway. Scroll mouse only
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I probably use them about equally with the scroll wheel, if my hands are already on the keyboard and I'm reading a long thread then it makes more sense to just use the buttons.

As Werewolf says the US patent system is pretty hopeless, if the story is true then a 3 year backlog is ridiculous aside from anything else.
 
MS have a habit of patenting silly things just so that someone else doesn't do it. It doesn't mean that they're intending to profit from every keyboard made in future. Rather so that no-one else does.
 
Cob said:
MS have a habit of patenting silly things just so that someone else doesn't do it. It doesn't mean that they're intending to profit from every keyboard made in future. Rather so that no-one else does.
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I've heard the same thing in the past, some of their patents are there not for profit but to basically protect themselves (and others) from the real patent sharks, as prior art is good (but can be hard to prove), but a prior patent is better.
 
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