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October 8, 2003 at 9:23 am #12065FrutZleMember
I just read on CNet.com that Microsoft has been granted a patent on the message showing when your chat-buddy is typing.
Read the entire story hereAOL had been granted a patent on the invention of Instant Messaging in general after it had bought ICQ, as you probably already knew. That’s cool, or at least nothing wrong with that, especially since they haven’t done anything with the patent like disallowing others to make/use IMs.
Why did Microsoft file for patent of the buddy-is-typing message? It’s not like it’s an amazing feature that nobody can live without anymore… Maybe it’s purely so they’d be able to say (to AOL for example) “If we can’t make/use any IMs anymore, you can’t use this feature anymore. Nah nah nah nah!”, or is there a deeper reason?October 8, 2003 at 1:14 pm #89557Jeff HesterKeymasterI don’t think Microsoft will do anything blatantly evil with this patent (such as asking Yahoo and AOL to pay for the privilege of using the feature, or take it out). Usually these patents serve two purposes. First, they form a sort of measurable intellectual capital that supports their value in the marketplace. And secondly, they provide “insurance” in the competitive instant messaging market; just in case someone ever tries to pull the patent violation card on them, they have a few cards of their own. 😉
October 8, 2003 at 4:10 pm #89558FrutZleMemberLet’s assume AOL start’s being annoying and says that nobody can release IM software anymore without their permission. Of course it’d end in a legal battle, but should Microsoft then say that AOL can’t use the buddy-is-typing message anymore, then AOL would probably say “fine, then we’ll remove it” and over-all nothing will change for AOL.
To me this patent thing seems to be more of a prestige matter than that it’ll give them “leverage”, or as you put it, “insurance”.
October 31, 2003 at 9:55 am #89559nathanintuMemberIMing has been around for years, I can’t see how AOL can put a patent on it.
Would be like putting a patent on SMS messages, even tho it has been around for years but no body used it untill the past 3 years.
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