[Patents] GUI patent war Adobe ./ Macromedia

[phm@a2e.de (PILCH Hartmut)]

Macromedia is now counter-suing Adobe for infringement of 3 patents.
In august, Adobe had sued Macromedia to stop them from using their
"method for displaying multiple sets of information in the same area
of a computer screen".

Under

   http://www.adobe.com/adobefacts/

Adobe is presenting its case to the public (rhetoric along the lines
of "we have to protect our intellectual property" and "we have no
choice but to sue Macromedia"), and under

   http://www.adobe.com/adobefacts/pdfs/patent_5546528.pdf

you can find the main claim of their patent:

        A method for combining on a computer display an additional set
        of information into a group of multiple sets of information
        needed on a recurring basis, comprising the steps of:

         establishing an area on the computer display in which the
         group of multiple sets of information is to be displayed, the
         area having a size which is less than the entire area of the
         computer display;

         providing within the area a plurality of selection
         indicators, one associated with a corresponding one of the
         multiple sets of information; and

         selecting a second of the multiple sets of information from
         the group for display within the area by activating a
         selection indicator associated with a corresponding one of
         the multiple sets of information, whereby the second of the
         multiple sets of information is substituted within the area
         of the display for the first set of information; and

         combining the additional set of information, displayed in a
         different area of the display from the established area, into
         the group of multiple sets of information so that the
         additional sets of information may be selected in the same
         manner as the other sets of information in the group.        
        
The "invention" apparently consists in adding a depth dimension to
menus: you can replace the forefront information set of the menu
(palette) with any one from a set of hidden sets, and you can add more
such sets into the menu.  This is especially useful for creating 
images in Adobe Photoshop, but it seems to be a basic principle that
is useful for all kinds of GUI.

Do GTK and Qt offer something like this?

What about GIMP?

Is there an EP version of this US patent?

A few years ago interface copyright lawsuits were unsuccessful because
the courts found that imitation of GUIs was desirable.  Now a patent
system is in place which is inflexible enough to leave no room for
such public interest considerations.

--
Hartmut Pilch                                         http://phm.ffii.org/
Protecting Innovation against Patent Inflation      http://swpat.ffii.org/
90000 signatures against software patents       http://www.noepatents.org/