Contributed by: filbert Sunday, August 14 2005 @ 07:20 AM CST
There have been reports[*1] that Microsoft won a patent victory over Apple on the iPod user interface. Those reports are wrong[*2] :
Closer inspection says the Microsoft patent was rejected. It was modified in December of 2003 but Techweb INCORRECTLY says the patent was approved. It is still an application. [uspto.gov]
In reality it will not be approved because of this little thing called Prior Art. As you might have guessed, you can’t patent something someone else is already shipping. Further in the US we use a “First to Invent” method rather than a “First to File.” Clearly since the Apple product was ~you know~ shipping, they invented it before Microsoft and clearly the MS application was not novel.