THE PACK Message Boards

Posted: **Thu Jan 26, 2006 2:24 pm**

http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/2575

Posted: **Thu Jan 26, 2006 3:35 pm**

Yeah...thats a little insane.

WTH is with laws and the internet nowadays? First thjat annoyance law - now this?

Posted: **Thu Jan 26, 2006 3:41 pm**

Haha, funny.

Posted: **Thu Jan 26, 2006 3:47 pm**

Heh...shall I patent the edits I did?

Posted: **Thu Jan 26, 2006 5:21 pm**

Eh, the patent hasn't been granted yet.

Posted: **Thu Jan 26, 2006 10:19 pm**

Can Cingular do that? Didn't emoticons emerge from Internet culture? Shoudn't Al Gore have the patent rights?

Posted: **Fri Jan 27, 2006 1:00 am**

They can do it. They shouldn't be able to, but they can. It almost certainly won't hold up in court if they actually challenge anyone with it, though.

Posted: **Fri Jan 27, 2006 2:18 am**

Before you all jump to conclusions, don't you think you ought to read the actual patent (US 2006-0015812 A1)?

It says nothing about patenting emoticons.

"Believe none of what you hear... and only half of what you see."

-- Vilkacis

Posted: **Fri Jan 27, 2006 6:19 pm**

its freaken stupid!! the emoticon was invented by thousands of people on-line!! its like pantenting music, art, science, mom, and apple pie!! its just as bad when smukers panteted the BP&J!! things that as a culture invented should not be be owned by one person or a greedy copration!!

F**K YOU BIG BUSINESS!!!

Posted: **Fri Jan 27, 2006 7:37 pm**

...Oh for Ra's sake...

Is it any wonder I think people are idiots?

And Vilkacis, that patent thing doesn't make a damn bit of sense to me. Translation please?

Posted: **Fri Jan 27, 2006 7:46 pm**

If I file a patent on stupidity, can I sue half the planet?

Posted: **Fri Jan 27, 2006 7:54 pm**

Only half? You underestimate them.

Posted: **Fri Jan 27, 2006 8:17 pm**

Vilkacis wrote:Before you all jump to conclusions, don't you think you ought to read the actual patent (US 2006-0015812 A1)?

It says nothing about patenting emoticons.

Actually if you look at several of the claims, one could misinterpet the patent as Cingular trying to patent the display of emoticons on electronic devices (IANAPL):

United States Patent Application: 0060015812 wrote:3. At an electronic device, a method for generating a displayable icon that indicates the mood or emotion of a user of the electronic device, the method comprising: providing a single-stroke keypad option that is to be selected to generate the displayable icon that indicates the mood or emotion, wherein the single-stroke keypad option includes a key having the displayable icon depicted thereon; and in response to the single-stroke keypad option being selected, generating the displayable icon for display on a display component of the electronic device, wherein the displayable icon is displayed in association with a message to be sent using the electronic device.

United States Patent Application: 0060015812 wrote:6. The method of claim 3 wherein the displayable icon is a textual character.

Posted: **Fri Jan 27, 2006 10:00 pm**

This could put patent infringement liability towards anyone who designs any program with a single-key shortcut to posting smileys. So, CTRL-ALT-XD could be out.

Posted: **Fri Jan 27, 2006 11:54 pm**

Set wrote:And Vilkacis, that patent thing doesn't make a damn bit of sense to me. Translation please?

In a sentence, they're patenting a way to input emoticons, not emoticons themselves.

To use what Lupin quoted as an example, all it's describing is this:

1. A keypad that has buttons with emoticons on them.
2. Press a button and it will insert the corresponding emoticon into your message.
3. The emoticon may be graphical or textual.

-- Vilkacis

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