Re: [Patents] debugging

[halber@idea.net.pl]

 Carsten Svaneborg wrote: 

 >> The patenting of computer-implemented inventions is not a new 
 >> phenomenon: patents involving the use of software have been 
 >> applied for and granted since the earliest days of the European 
 >> Patent Office (EPO). 

 > The 1978 EPO guidelines: A computer program may take various 
forms, 
 > e.g. an algorithm, a flow-chart or a series of coded instructions 
 which can 
 > be recorded on a tape or other machine-readable record-medium, 
and 
 can 
 > be regarded as a particular case of either a mathematical method or 
a 
 > presentation or information. If the contribution to the known art 
 resides 
 > solely in a computer program then the subject matter is not 
 patentable in 
 > whatever manner it may be presented in the claims

 In spite of the Guidelines Arlene Mccarthy is right.

 An example:
 From 21 US patents that according to Adobe are covering Acrobat 5.0
 20 have equivalent applications in the EPO.
 10 were granted, 2 were withdrawn by the applicant when the EPO did 
nor 
 raise objection to grant
 2 were refused, 1 probably will be refused in near future, 
 for 5 procedure is in progress (probably there is no interest of the 
 applicant to continue proceedings)
 In 4 from 5 cases Munich in its decisions is blindly following 
 Washington. There is nothing new in this mirroring. It is 15 years old 
 phenomena. 

 Details in attachment
 Note please, that during hearings of 1994 Adobe was against software 
 patents.

 Jozef Halbersztadt

Title: Adobe Acrobat 5

	Titel	No PTO	No EPO	Remarks
1	METHOD OF COLOR SELECTION FOR DISPLAY AND PRINTING	US4837613 Jun 6, 1989	EP357191B1 Feb 22, 1995	Granted
2	METHOD FOR DISPLAYING KANJI CHARACTERS	US5050103 Sep 17, 1991	EP397299B1 Sep 06, 1995	Granted
3	METHOD OF SUBSTITUTING FONTS AND DISPLAYING CHARACTERS	US5185818 Feb 9, 1993	EP518554B1 Oct 15, 1997	Granted
4	DROPOUT-FREE CENTER POINT FILL METHOD FOR DISPLAYING CHARACTERS	US5200740 Apr 6, 1993	EP411740A3  Nov 06, 1991	Refusal, not new, Jan 14, 1995
5	CONNECTED-RUN DROPOUT-FREE CENTER POINT FILL METHOD FOR DISPLAYING CHARACTERS	US5233336 Aug 3, 1993	-	Not applied in the EPO
6	METHOD FOR EDITING CHARACTER BITMAPS AT SMALL SIZES	US5237313 Aug 17, 1993	EP411739B1 Jun 07, 1995	Granted
7	METHOD FOR EDITING CHARACTER BIT MAPS AT SMALL SIZES USING CONNECTED RUNS	US5255357 Oct 19, 1993	EP466330B1  Oct 30, 1996	Granted
8	METHOD OF DISPLAYING MULTIPLE SETS OF INFORMATION IN THE SAME AREA OF A COMPUTER SCREEN	US5546528 Aug 13, 1996	EP689133B1  Aug 08, 2001	Granted
9	METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR VIEWING ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS	US5634064 May 27, 1997	EP701220B1 Jul 04, 2001	Granted
10	METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DOWNLOADING MULTI-PAGE ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS WITH HINT INFORMATION	US5737599 Apr 7, 1998	EP870246A1 Oct 14, 1998	In progress
11	METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING AN OPTIMIZED DOCUMENT FILE OF MULTIPLE PAGES	US5781785 Jul 14, 1998	EP870246A1  Oct 14, 1998	In progress
12	METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR READING MULTI-PAGE ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS	US5819301 Oct 6, 1998	EP870246A1 Oct 14, 1998	In progress
13	METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IDENTIFYING WORDS DESCRIBED IN A PORTABLE ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT	US5832530 Nov 3, 1998	EP702322B1  Feb 13, 2002	Granted
14	METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IDENTIFYING WORDS DESCRIBED IN A PAGE DESCRIPTION LANGUAGE FILE	US5832531 Nov 3, 1998	EP701223A3  May 28, 1997	No objection raised by the EPO, withdrawn by applicant , Aug 21, 2002
15	METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DISPLAYING AN ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT WITH TEXT OVER OBJECT	US5860074 Jan 12, 1999	EP870246A1  Oct 14, 1998	In progress
16	METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DESIGNATING OBJECTS	US5930813 Jul 27, 1999	EP780797A3  Sep 17, 1997	Refusal, lack of inventive step, Oct 23, 2002
17	METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RENDERING CHARACTERS	US5943063 Aug 24, 1999	EP772144B1  Aug 14, 2002	Granted
18	METHOD OF GENERATING MULTIPLE-MASTER TYPEFACES	US5995086 Nov 30, 1999	EP701242A3  Dec 27, 1996	No objection raised by the EPO, withdrawn by applicant , Aug 7, 2002
19	BLENDING WITH PLANAR MAPS	US6049339 Apr 11, 2000	EP924653A3  Jan 31, 2001	In progress, the EPO raised lack of inventive step
20	DISPLAYING ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS WITH SUBSTITUTE FONTS	US6073148  Jun 6, 2000	EP870246A1 Oct 14, 1998	In progress
21	HIGH SPEED DATA COMPRESSION AND DECOMPRESSION APPARATUS AND METHOD  (SPERRY CORP)	US4558302  Dec 10, 1985	EP129439B1 Feb 01, 1989	Granted