Comments on: ‘Microsoft reinvents the electronic annotation,’ with help from the USPTO clowns in Alexandria http://www.teleread.com/uncategorized/microsoft-reinvents-the-electronic-annotation/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Wed, 15 Feb 2012 05:35:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Preston DuBose http://www.teleread.com/uncategorized/microsoft-reinvents-the-electronic-annotation/comment-page-1/#comment-57582 Preston DuBose Mon, 08 May 2006 14:18:37 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=4816#comment-57582 Bear in mind that it says this patent was filed in 1999-- SEVEN YEARS ago. Not that there weren't other companies doing similar annotation at the time, but surely they weren't as prevelent as today. The problem does seem to lie with the patent office. It must be hard to keep a staff with enough technical expertise to make knowledgeable patent decisions when there's more money to be made in the private sector. They're probably one of those agencies that are perpetually understaffed and underpaid for the volume of work they're expected to manage. All that being said, yes, it's still a bad patent. I hope Adobe contests it. Bear in mind that it says this patent was filed in 1999– SEVEN YEARS ago. Not that there weren’t other companies doing similar annotation at the time, but surely they weren’t as prevelent as today. The problem does seem to lie with the patent office. It must be hard to keep a staff with enough technical expertise to make knowledgeable patent decisions when there’s more money to be made in the private sector. They’re probably one of those agencies that are perpetually understaffed and underpaid for the volume of work they’re expected to manage.

All that being said, yes, it’s still a bad patent. I hope Adobe contests it.

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