Well there are all kinds of nonsensical patents on the books but a lot of them are never enforced. I don't see how the web mapping patent would fulfill the non-obvious requirement- but there are a lot of stupid courts out there.<br>
<br> - bri<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Aug 7, 2009 at 4:14 AM, Bill Thoen <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:bthoen@gisnet.com">bthoen@gisnet.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
You might be surprised what people might be able to get away with, though. There's been repeated attempts to patent "web mapping" for example, and if it wasn't for the efforts of a few dedicated people, there would now be patents in both Britain and the USA on displaying maps over the web. But the threat is not dead yet, believe it or not, and it may culminate in a battle between Microsoft and Google sometime in the near future. Check out Daniel Morissette's blog entry for Feb 21, 2009, "Microsoft Patents the Map" at <a href="http://www.systemed.net/blog/?p=68" target="_blank">http://www.systemed.net/blog/?p=68</a>. If Microsoft really uses the Multimap patent to put the bite on Google, then you can bet your bippy that it'll affect your web mapping business too.<br>
<br>
If reading that article brings your blood to a righteous boil, and you want to know more about who really invented web mapping, see Carl Reed's 2004 article, "Intellectual Property, Patents, and Web Mapping: Historical Perspective" at <a href="http://portal.opengeospatial.org/files/?artifact_id=28360" target="_blank">http://portal.opengeospatial.org/files/?artifact_id=28360</a>.<br>
<br>
- Bill Thoen<br>
GISnet - <a href="http://www.gisnet.com" target="_blank">www.gisnet.com</a><br>
<br>
Brian Russo wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div class="im">
I've seen legends similar to that before; afraid I can't offer anything solid in terms of prior art examples but it's hardly as revolutionary as they seem to think.<br>
Pretty absurd if you ask me;<br></div><div><div></div><div class="h5">
On Wed, Aug 5, 2009 at 7:34 AM, "René A. Enguehard" <<a href="mailto:ahugenerd@gmail.com" target="_blank">ahugenerd@gmail.com</a> <mailto:<a href="mailto:ahugenerd@gmail.com" target="_blank">ahugenerd@gmail.com</a>>> wrote:<br>
<br>
I suspect they might be applying for the patent but in for quite a<br>
surprise when it gets rejected. Features for maps would be very<br>
tricky to patent and, more importantly, not in the interest of the<br>
general public. As such the patent applications would probably get<br>
rejected. Would we really want people patenting things like<br>
projections, north arrows, scale bars or legends? I don't think it<br>
would be productive and suspect any patent office in its right<br>
mind would see it the same way.<br>
<br>
Patents were created to help people protect their ideas for a<br>
length of time so they could reap the rewards of their work and<br>
refine it without fear of being copied or undercut. This works<br>
very well for many things but fails miserably for conceptual<br>
things like maps or layouts for books or posters. This is why many<br>
patent offices now require people to patent "systems" rather than<br>
"things". I don't see how a wrap-around map could be explained as<br>
a system.<br>
<br>
René<br>
IANAL<br>
<br>
Landon Blake wrote:<br>
<br>
<br>
The latest issue of the ACSM Bulletin had an interesting<br>
article about a map matrix that wraps around the edge of a<br>
paper map. It seems the company that is using this feature of<br>
hard copy map design is applying for a patent. I didn’t even<br>
think you could get a patent a feature of a paper map. It got<br>
me wondering who holds the patent on the use of a north arrow<br>
and scale.<br>
<br>
At any rate, here is the article if you are interested in<br>
reading it:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.webmazine.org/issues/current/documents/wrap.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.webmazine.org/issues/current/documents/wrap.pdf</a><br>
<br>
I couldn’t find the patent application, or I would have posted<br>
a link to it. Let me know if you have any comments.<br>
<br>
Landon<br>
<br>
</div></div></blockquote><div><div></div><div class="h5">
<br>
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