Cygnus Systems, Inc. has filed a lawsuit in Arizona Federal court against Microsoft, Google and Apple. They have just been granted a patent for “System and method for iconic software environment management.”, and claim the three larger companies have been overusing icons.
Yes, you read that right. The icons on your browser, your Windows Explorers applications and even your iPhone are being clamed by the upstart with foresight enough to file a patent on thumbnails.
“Its abstract describes “a method and system for storing, navigating, and accessing files within an operating system through the use of a graphical thumbnail representing the video display of the active document within the active application.”,” Ars Technica says, which means in other words that Cygnus’ patent describes features similar to those of Windows Explorer and Apple’s Finder. “These applications use scaled-down previews to represent the actual documents being browsed by users.
The patent could also include things like file icons that dynamically update to reflect changes to the contents of their respective documents, as well as Opera’s “Speed Dial” feature, which offers a visual dashboard of easy-access websites. Cygnus’ complaint even cites the iPhone’s “accompanying iconic file preview and access functionality” and the Safari browser’s tab thumbnails.””
The suit has some major flaws – Google does not have an actual operating system, and prior art applies- a major factor in patent law. This “constitutes all information that has been made available to the public in any form before a given date that might be relevant to a patent’s claims of originality. If an invention has been described in prior art, a patent on that invention is not valid,” or so says Wikipedia.
The notion that icons can be patented for the sole use of one company seems slightly absurd – but remember we already have a contender claiming to have patented the term SEO!
Tags: Apple, Google, icon, iPhone, Microsoft, navigation, Opera, Safari