US Patent Office strikes out again

Posted by Vic Laurie
August 31, 2008

Here they go again, granting foolish patents. Microsoft has been granted a patent on “page up” and “page down”. When I first saw the news I thought it had to be a joke but, no, there it is- U.S. Patent #7,415,666. Writing at ZDnet, David Meyer comments:

Microsoft has a long history of applying for, and being granted patents for, inventions that many argue–and can sometimes demonstrate–were based on earlier work carried out by others, or based on a common, self-evident idea.

Of course, Microsoft isn’t the only company asking for, and getting, silly patents. With the system this broken, who knows what will get patented next?

Update: Office Watch explains that the patent isn’t quite as silly as it first seemed.

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