EFF has awarded its coveted Stupid Patent of the Month prize to Microsoft for D554,140, a design patent on a slider widget for a UI.
Microsoft filed the patent for the slider in 2006, and is currently using it to sue Corel, arguing that Corel owes it all profits earned on Corel Home Office, under a doctrine set out in the bizarre Apple v Samsung patent dispute.
Samsung has now asked the Supreme Court to weigh in. In its petition for certiorari, Samsung points out the absurd results of this rule. For example, Samsung explains that under the Federal Circuit’s ruling, “profits on an entire car—or even an eighteen-wheel tractor trailer—must be awarded based on an undetachable infringing cup-holder.” In addition, given that many products will include multiple ornamental features that could be covered by design patents, this raises the possibility that a company could get hit for multiple judgments for all its profits.
That sounds pretty crazy to us. But that’s exactly what might happen if Microsoft prevails against Corel. Putting aside whether Microsoft’s design was actually new and not obvious in 2006 (when Microsoft filed its application), whether Microsoft needed the patent incentive in order to come up with this design, and whether it is even desirable to grant a company a government-backed monopoly on a graphical slider (we don't think so, that's why this is a stupid patent), the scope of damages for design patent infringement has the potential to become a powerful tool to shut down legitimate competition based on the mere threat of a lawsuit.
Stupid Patent of the Month: Microsoft’s Design Patent on a Slider
[Vera Ranieri/EFF]
Brittany Kaiser is an ex-Cambridge Analytica employee who gave written testimony and answered questions at the UK Parliament this week in which she revealed that the Facebook apps that Cambridge Analytica used to covertly gain access to millions of users' data went far beyond the ones disclosed to date, and that the number of total […]
It's hard to know what to make of the raid on Trump family lawyer/bagman/fixer Michael Cohen's office -- there's been plenty of news tick-tock on the subject and legal experts agree that something momentous is going on, but what, exactly, does it all mean.
A court filing in the case of President Donald Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen shows that prosecutors obtained “covert” search warrants on multiple email accounts belonging to Cohen. An early report says “Cohen is in fact performing little to no legal work,” according to sources, and “zero emails were exchanged with President Trump.” If that’s the […]
Another year, another iteration of Samsung’s Galaxy smartphone—except this time around Samsung sought to redefine what a smartphone can do completely. Boasting a 6.2″ Quad HD+ Super AMOLED (2960×1440) infinity display, and an elite 10nm 64-bit Octa-Core Processor with 6GB RAM, the S9+ is an absolute powerhouse with a price tag to match. However, you […]
Competition in the job market is getting stiff, and while experience and a four-year degree can put you on the map, most employers prefer applicants versed in the tools that power their industry. To this end, certifying your skills with Salesforce is a smart move. The world’s #1 Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform, Salesforce is […]
Warmer weather is coming, and so too is the hankering for iced coffee. But, since most of us don’t have the time—or foresight—to make a batch of cold brew the night before, we’ll be chilling our cups of Joe with ice cubes and watering them down in the process. The HyperChiller Coffee Chiller offers a different […]