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Microsoft Served with Lawsuit Over Live Tiles

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Don't know what to make of this

MarryTheNight

Oct 31, 2012, 11:14 AM
M$ has been quite the patent troll for years. Karma is indeed a bitch. Then again where were these a-holes when WP7 came out? This company has done nothing with their so-called ideas. M$ will just end up buying this turd anyway. Problem solved
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Globhead

Oct 31, 2012, 11:31 AM
Check out their website:
http://www.surfcast.com/index.php »

No indication that these annoying twits do anything with their patents except sue people. IMO, that makes their trolling worse, even if MS is a jerk.
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umpirerob

Oct 31, 2012, 1:33 PM
From the Invention Summary of the patent: "The present invention comproses a grid of tiles that reside on the user's desktop"

WP7 was on phones only. Windows 8 resides "on the user's desktop."

They were actually quite forward thinking and mentioned the use on multiple devices including handheld devices. If I had to guess, though, WP7 was not multi-device compatible and Windows 8 is - here's your lawsuit!
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Tofuchong

Oct 31, 2012, 2:08 PM
All they need to do is change the livetiles to be displayed in a location other than the direct desktop. Even if there is an Icon you need to tap or "double-click" to open a WINDOW that has the livetiles in it, that would invalidate that claim, as the livetiles wouldn't be located on the "desktop", they would be in a window.
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Vmac39

Oct 31, 2012, 5:38 PM
I understand your point but, I think that would invalidate the whole idea of having info available at a glance, for Microsoft. That has been the whole idea behind the push of the metro tiles.

What I see happening is, Microsoft, if ruled against, will just buy the patent and keep it moving. It will be interesting to see what happens, considering they were granted a patent for the same idea. This doesn't mean that MS stole their idea, it just means that more than one person(s) thought of it. Since this company suing them never actually had a working product in all that time, it would be a little hard to prove that Microsoft actually stole their idea. The burden of proof is on them. Besides, MS was granted the patent, which to me indicates...
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srich27

Nov 1, 2012, 7:31 AM
Or its further proof that the Patent Office doesn't actually review anything and simply rubber-stamps patent approvals as long as the money is flowing.

That said, I'd be very surprised if this caused even the smallest of hitches in the Win8 rollout. With any luck it'll be thrown out. Displaying a grid of information on a desktop is NOT unique or innovative, especially worded the way it is.

F'ing patent trolls :\
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srich27

Nov 1, 2012, 7:38 AM
They could always point out that the live tiles aren't actually on the desktop at all...? The start screen is NOT the desktop. The desktop is the same as it has been for years, with no live tiles.

While I hate to mention Apple in an otherwise unrelated patent case, this seems similar to when they sued over the unified search 'on the homescreen'. Like, you're allowed to use unified search, but you can't put it in the most obvious place. In this case, you can have a grid of tiles, but you can't put it in what used to be the most obvious place.

And how the hell is a "grid of tiles" patentable in the first place? What is a standard desktop if not a grid of icon tiles? Is the fact that they're squares suddenly make this unique and non...
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tzsm98

Nov 3, 2012, 12:03 PM
What is non-obvious is having the design element reveal information that is not static.

As far stealing the idea being impossible because it hadn't come to market - That would be true only in the universe where patents are not available for public scrutiny. Inability to create a viable product with your innovation does not in any way diminish your rights in that innovation during the limited term of your patent. Failure to assert your rights under the patent does diminish them in fact if not in law.

Microsoft can negotiate to license this innovation, fight it in court, buy the innovator's firm or change their software. It is not like their hands are tied.
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