Apple patents feed reading... !?!?
Posted by Scott Hughes Thu, 09 Mar 2006 04:32:00 GMT
I found out about this patent via Miguel de Icaza (who found this discussion with Dave Winer). I really don’t have the patience to read the whole thing, but while scanning it I couldn’t find anything like a highlight reel (e.g. “Our patentable idea is unique because it differentiates from the way everyone else is doing it like xxxxxx”). The pieces I did read thoroughly sound no different than the way a typical news viewer (of which there are dozens of examples) does it. I found the following quote, the last section of the patent, disturbing:
[0127] It will be understood by those skilled in the relevant art that the above-described implementations are merely exemplary, and many changes can be made without departing from the true spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications that come within the true spirit and scope of this invention.
So, even if we didn’t explicitly phrase the patent to cover your application, we obviously meant it and we think it should still apply. If you can’t tell that we meant it, you must not know what the hell you’re talking about..
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