Peter Nijs wrote: > I've just read a (Dutch) news article > (http://tweakers.net/nieuws/58158/microsoft-wil-brug-tussen-smartphone-en-pc- > patenteren.html) which describes a new patent microsoft filed. In the article > is a link to an English description of the patent. > (http://v3.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/description?CC=WO&NR=2009012344A2&KC=A2&FT=D&date=20090122&DB=EPODOC&locale=en_US) > > The patent describes a dock for a smartphone, which connects to external > devices such as a keyboard, mouse, screen,... wired or wireless. Now I think > Openmoko already does a lot of these things, and other things have already > been thought of. We can already hook up wired and wireless devices (such as > mice and keyboards) to the Freerunner. I'm almost sure someone suggested > hooking up an external screen to it. That's technically not possible, but it's > been thought of. Integrating the wired connection between FR and the external > devices has also been thought of earlier in this list.
wikipedia says: > > a patent application must include one or more claims defining the > > > invention which must be new, inventive, and useful or industrially > > applicable. "one or more" means that even if prior art exists, it can still be patented. This is different from intellectual property where anteriority prevent copyright. (at least in france) > > I'm not a lawyer, but since the patent was published on the 22th of January, I > think for some parts of this patent, there is some sort of "prior art" > involved. Also it wouldn't surprise me if Microsoft and Apple are > eavesdropping on this list. (Note to Microsoft and Apple: Please don't steal > our idea's. If you do: Please die a slow and painfull death.) > > mvg, > depeje > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Openmoko community mailing list > community@lists.openmoko.org > http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community _______________________________________________ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community