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From: metzger@arnor.UUCP (Perry E. Metzger)
Newsgroups: comp.misc,gnu.misc.discuss
Subject: Re: Pike patent claims
Message-ID: <1991Mar12.210014.23142@arnor.uucp>
Date: 12 Mar 91 21:00:14 GMT
References: <20018@alice.att.com>
Sender: news@arnor.uucp (NNTP News Poster)
Organization: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
Lines: 56

In article <20018@alice.att.com> dmr@alice.att.com (Dennis Ritchie) writes:
>To forstall misunderstanding, I typed in the abstract and claims
>of the famous patent.  It is US Patent 4,555,775, inventor
>Robert C. Pike, assigned to AT&T Bell Laboratories, filed Oct 7, 1982,
>effective Nov 26, 1985.  All typos are mine.
>
>	Dennis Ritchie
>	dmr@research.att.com
>	att!research!dmr

I had hoped that upon reading this patent my fears would be asuaged;
they were not. So far as I could tell, the patent in question more or
less covers every windowing system known to man. Its even worse than
just backing store.

>Claims:
>What is claimed is:
>
>1. A computer terminal display system comprising
>a display surface,
>means for simultaneously displaying a plurality of overlapping
>	rectangular graphic layers on said surface, wherein
>	each of said graphic layers comprises an autonomous
>	level of graphical information,
>means for associating each of said graphic layers with an independent
>	computer program,
>means for storing a complete bitmap for each of said graphic layers, and
>means responsive to the associated one of said independent computer
>	programs for continuously updating each of said bitmaps.

Well, what doesn't that cover? The rest of the claims are equally
nasty. Things like...

>3. The display system according to claim 2 wherein said interactive
>means includes a keyboard.

and

>5. The display system according to claim 4 wherein said interacting
>means comprises a graphical cursor device.

and

>7. A graphics terminal comprising
>a display,
>a keyboard,
>a graphics control device, and
>programmed apparatus for controlling said terminal, said
>	apparatus comprising[...]

There isn't any real point in continuing, is there.

The only choice is to make a major push to stop software patents NOW,
while we still can!

Perry Metzger