microsoft patent with idea's from this list

[Helge Hafting]

Al Johnson wrote:
> On Thursday 05 February 2009, Helge Hafting wrote:
>> arne anka wrote:
>>>> (http://v3.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/description?CC=WO&NR=2009012
>>>> 344A2&KC=A2&FT=D&date=20090122&DB=EPODOC&locale=en_US)
>>> i didn't read it fully, but how does that differ from a simple hub or the
>>> common docking station well known to notebook users? and it what respect
>>> exactly is it not obvious?
>> Yeah, it is jsut like the docking stations used for laptops.
>> Doing exactly the same with a *phone*, now that phones almost are
>> notebooks - wasn't obvious to microsoft or that patent office, it seems.
> 
> The patent office sees obviousness differently to engineers. Having a patent 
> for something on a tractor for a particular reason doesn't stop someone 
> getting a patent on the exact same thing for the same reason on a fork lift. 
> Somehow it isn't obvious that if it works in one situation it'll also work in 
> a similar one. They see moving the idea from one type of vehicle to another as 
> an inventive step rather than an application of the blindingly obvious. 

Hm. But in that case, I won't be infringing if I do the same thing on a 
car. The tractor guy only has a patent for tractor application.

So perhaps a cradle for an _open source_ phone isn't covered then. :-) 
Or maybe an "openmoko communication device". It isn't a phone, it is a 
thing that has phone capabilities as one of many uses.

Helge Hafting