Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!mcnc!decvax.dec.com!zinn!ubbs-nh!siia!drd
From: drd@siia.mv.com (David Dick)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Software Patents (Was: Re: Reserve engineering stuff,.....)
Message-ID: <1990Jun27.135727.17779@siia.mv.com>
Date: 27 Jun 90 13:57:27 GMT
References: <1990Jun19.184347.11429@midway.uchicago.edu> <12863@cbmvax.commodore.com>
Distribution: usa
Organization: Software Innovations, Inc.
Lines: 20

In <12863@cbmvax.commodore.com> daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) writes:

>In article <1990Jun19.184347.11429@midway.uchicago.edu> gft_robert@gsbacd.uchicago.edu writes:

>>There are indeed patents on some of the material in the Mac ROM.  The only one
>>I know about specifically is "Regions".

I remember there was some talk of Apple trying to patent the region
implementation, but I never heard that it worked.  Does anyone actually
know the patent number?  (Lots of times the trade press will talk about
patents, but *very* seldom list the number.  The inclusion of those
numbers would actually allow people to go look up the patent and
see the real truth instead of some vague notions passed along by the
writers.)

A patent I know Apple *does* have is 4,464,652: for their mouse
and the way of using it for pull-down menus.

David Dick
Software Innovations, Inc. [the Software Moving Company(sm)]