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Authored by macrorodent on Sept 12, 2013 10:10:54 GMT
"Google, Motorola and Samsung are fielding new patent suits from Corel-owned Micrografx over graphics rendering, covering a slew of Android-based products as well as the Chocolate Factor's Google Maps." [...] Sigh. The article at The register
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Authored by penguinhead on Sept 12, 2013 12:26:56 GMT
Every time I read ambiguous patent language like that I become ill.
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foulis
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Posts: 30
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Authored by foulis on Sept 12, 2013 12:53:29 GMT
Could someone kindly translate that '633 patent language into English for me? Yikes!
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celtichackr
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Hacker, geek, all around technoaddict. Amateur Scientist (well except for those pesky degrees).
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Authored by celtichackr on Sept 12, 2013 16:56:27 GMT
Translation of '633 patent.
Wait for it...
A patent on rendering scaled vector graphics format images from an external image library on a computer with modular code for communicating between running applications and/or libraries. That would include Windows with DDE/OLE/ActiveX/COM/etc, or Unix-based computers.
That's the crux. I could add more words and make the explanation longer, but that's it in a nutshell. Pretty hard to not violate that patent. ---------------------------------------------------------
Deeper explanation.
Scaled vector graphics files contain instruction on actions ("draw a line from A to B", "draw a circle of diameter A centered at x,y", "fill circle centered at x,y with color G",...). The symbols would include line segments, circles, squares, and conceivably more complex shapes.
I'm not a deep expert on the internals of SVG, But there's a book in my office shelf in front of me that could give detailed info. It should be noted that rendering True Type Fonts would fall under the auspices of this patent.
Also, I was routinely violating this patent back in 1992... oh wait... I was routinely pre-violating this patent from 1992 to 1996, and THEN routinely violating it from 1996 onward. In fact, I think Microsoft has been violating this patent and pre-violating this patent for decades. And Apple too! And Xerox!...
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celtichackr
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Hacker, geek, all around technoaddict. Amateur Scientist (well except for those pesky degrees).
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Authored by celtichackr on Sept 12, 2013 17:15:22 GMT
Wow, just read the '854 and '732 patents. A patent on placing an SVG file on a network drive.
ZING! This is better than the "swinging sideways on a playground swing" patent!
Look, I can place a file on a network drive and still open it in a program from my desktop and have it drawn on my desktop! Patent that! Oh, wait Corel, err Micrografix, DID!
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stegu
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Authored by stegu on Sept 12, 2013 17:40:53 GMT
Scalable vector graphics goes way back, long before 1992. PostScript was introduced in 1986 or so, the WMF format predates that, and Gerber files have been around since the 1960's. It was one of the first standardized file formats for exchange of information between computers. Placing any of these file formats on a network of any sort, and accessing it from any kind of general purpose computer with an operating system that has any kind of multitasking, would seem to violate this patent. I may be missing something, but this reads like an overly broad, overreaching patent trying to claim ownership of old technology in an outright fraudulent manner. Nobody in their right mind possessing any skill at all in the relevant art could possibly have thought this was novel when they filed for the patent. The Display PostScript system developed for the NeXT in 1987 would be a pretty obvious and early enough prior art for this, I think. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_PostScriptLet's hope this gets shot down, with the case exploding in the air for everyone to see what happens to stupid lawsuits.
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foulis
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Authored by foulis on Sept 12, 2013 18:29:29 GMT
Thanks, celtichackr. I "think" I understand it now. Just so happens I transcribed Comes 6539I from 1999 (not sent to PJ yet) and it's all about SVG standards for browsers with Corel mentioned. Have a glance, you will have to log into GL as it won't show for non-members.
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Authored by wayneborean on Sept 13, 2013 22:59:14 GMT
Whether it gets shot down or not, the legal costs could kill a lot of smaller players. Wayne madhatter.ca
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celtichackr
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Authored by celtichackr on Sept 15, 2013 14:01:43 GMT
Yeah, makes you wonder, why Corel went after big players first rather than smaller ones.
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