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From: julian@osu-eddie.UUCP (Julian Gomez)
Newsgroups: net.graphics
Subject: Re: Re: exclusive-ORed cursors
Message-ID: <653@osu-eddie.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 10-Oct-85 12:43:44 EDT
Article-I.D.: osu-eddi.653
Posted: Thu Oct 10 12:43:44 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 12-Oct-85 18:11:12 EDT
References: <588@stc-b.stc.UUCP> <5988@utzoo.UUCP> <914@turtlevax.UUCP> <745@terak.UUCP> <1238@tekgvs.UUCP> <2750@watvlsi.UUCP>
Organization: Ohio State Univ., CIS Dept., Cols, Oh.
Lines: 29

> I think '$10,000 for nothing' is an unfair assessment of the
> situation.  As with most great ideas, once someone shows you how to
> do something it becomes obvious (also spoken: 'Once someone opens the door
> everyone can see through it').  ...
Well, not quite. Einstein showed us relativity, but how many people
think it's obvious?

> ...                             Just because a process is obvious and
> in widespread use this does not lessen an inventor's credit for it.

Anyway, as I understand it, in order for something to be patented, the
applicant must show that it is not obvious to a practitioner (i.e.
expert) in the field.  Thus no one can patent the Pythagorean Theorem
because it's obvious to anyone past junior high (no flames, they didn't
have junior high thousands of years ago :-).  I would say that XOR
cursors are obvious, because people have been using them since no later
than 1975, when the E&S frame buffer was built.  It is very easy to
question whether those guys invented the process, since it was around
for at least five years before the patent was granted.  It is clear
that a number of people thought it up independently.  However, it would
probably take a court battle to clear things up, and like Peter
Hildebrandt <1238@tekgvs.UUCP> points out, what company is willing to
fight a court battle over $100?
-- 
"If Chaos himself sat umpire, what better could he do?"

	Julian "a tribble took it" Gomez
	Computer Graphics Research Group, The Ohio State University
	{ucbvax,decvax}!cbosg!osu-eddie!julian