Xref: utzoo misc.legal:9215 comp.fonts:627
Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!texsun!csccat!larry
From: larry@csccat.UUCP (Larry Spence)
Newsgroups: misc.legal,comp.fonts
Subject: font patents
Keywords: patents
Message-ID: <2955@csccat.UUCP>
Date: 14 Jun 89 22:53:51 GMT
Reply-To: larry@csccat.UUCP
Distribution: na
Organization: Fontaholics Anonymous
Lines: 24

Could someone please enlighten me on the so-called "Rockwell patent"?  It
is purportedly a patent on the generation of bitmapped fonts by rasteriza-
tion of outlines.  The trade papers have been talking about a lawsuit filed
by Information International, Inc. (sp?), a.k.a. III, against Apple and
Adobe for alleged infringement of this patent.

Has this patent been tested in court before?  What determines whether an
outline is a "font outline"?  Is a logo that contains highly stylized text
a "font outline"?  Is it simply a particular proprietary rasterization
technique that is covered, and if so, how does III know that Apple and Adobe
use it?

Obviously, there are millions of related questions.  I would like the patent
number and any pointers to background material that exists.  The patent was
issued in 1977 (?) to Rockwell International and later sold to III.

My interest in this is purely academic (consider the number of theses and
SIGGRAPH articles on the subject!) and does not express the views of my
employer in any way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
U.S. Patent #000,000,000,006: "Usage of binary digits (0,1) to represent
                               information" 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~