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A comment on Apple v. Samsung Verdict: Could Bill Gates Have Patented The iPhone in 1995?. Parent comment

Re:Apple v. Samsung Verdict: Could Bill Gates Have Patented ... by MaxwellKennerly on Monday August 27, 2012 @04:40PM (#4440769)
Of course not, and it bears repeating that this patent doesn't cover any of the underlying technology that makes the iPhone actually work as a phone, it merely covers part of the appearance of the UI, an appearance that any competent programmer can replicate on a whim.

I am contending that you can't patent a user interface you see in a sci-fi movie, which is what Apple did here. What they patented is no different from patenting the way the command module looks on the Enterprise. Do you think that Apple should be able to patent, say, the use of oval icons?

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Re:Apple v. Samsung Verdict: Could Bill Gates Have Patented ... by veemjeem on Tuesday August 28, 2012 @12:45AM (#4442177)
You can patent icons and fonts, why would a user interface be different here? We could revoke the ability to patent icons & fonts, but then there would be no financial motivation for companies to design fonts to sell.
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