News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Steam Deck OLED. Parent comment

Re:Steam Deck OLED by mtsr on Thursday November 09, 2023 @02:30PM (#38209776)
Are they still covered by the patents that made them unattractive initially? Patent expiry could very well be the reason for their increased popularity.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Steam Deck OLED by cantSpellSober on Thursday November 09, 2023 @02:41PM (#38210013)
My understanding is that the patents for Torx (and Torx Plus) have expired. They're an ISO standard, "hexalobular internal" (which is much more fun to say).
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Steam Deck OLED by mananaysiempre on Thursday November 09, 2023 @02:39PM (#38209979)
Wikipedia tells me the original Torx patent US 3,584,667 [1] was filed in 1967, so anything related should have long since expired. (There’s apparently also a “Torx Plus” patented in 1990 around the time the original patent was expiring, but I don’t believe anybody uses that one. Expired in 2011.)

[1] https://image-ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloa...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Steam Deck OLED by mattygabe on Thursday November 09, 2023 @02:36PM (#38209912)
Torx patent expired in 2011, so that's increasingly likely why it's taken off.

Edited to add: the "Torx Plus" design's patent expired in 2011, which was put in place in 1990 as the original Torx patent was expiring then. Some more nuance, but there ya go.

[ Parent | on HN ]