Subject:
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Re: Lego patent issued
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.cad
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Date:
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Tue, 3 Sep 2002 19:10:00 GMT
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Viewed:
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592 times
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In lugnet.cad, Erik Olson writes:
> Well folks, this is not cause for alarm, but Lego have got their software
> patent on how they store model files:
>
> US6389375: Virtual reality modelling
> Published 5/14/02 Filed 1/14/99
>
> The "novel idea" for which they have received patent protection is: in a
> data strcture (read: model file format) the location of a piece is
> represented by *integer* coordinates, plus a compact set of numbers
> indicating a transformation of that coordinate system.
>
> According to discussions several of us had with Lego about LDRAW and Lego
> Creator, or my understanding of said discussions, the use of integer
> coordinates was essential to the patent's novelty. LDRAW doesn't use integer
> coordinates to achieve the same effect, so it's not the same thing.
>
> As a practicing software engineer, this patent seems just as ridiculous and
> trivially obvious to me as (most) all other software patents. But there it is.
As usual I'm amazed at the ineptitude of the patent system when it comes
to software. I think it's because all patent examiners eventually expect
to become patent lawyers, so the more crap they let through the system as
examiners, the more work they'll have when they make the big bucks.
We might as well kiss the Lego Connection Database idea goodbye. I'm
sure a lawyer could see a few too many similarities to this patent.
The sad part is I remember way back in the 1980s working on CAD systems
where you *had* to store the data as 8 or 16 bit integers because there
wasn't enough disk space for floating point numbers. I'm somewhat
ashamed to admit my name is on an ancient patent where scanned printed
circuit board coordinates are forced to an integer grid calculated
by fourier transforms. Perhaps some of the novelty of the Lego patent
comes from the use of the third D? ;^)
Don
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Lego patent issued
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| It all becomes ever so much clearer when you understand that "novel" means "not known to the patent office". (There are also other subtleties that make a thing novel or not novel.) "Immediately obvious to one skilled in the art" is not asserted (...) (22 years ago, 3-Sep-02, to lugnet.cad)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Lego patent issued
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| Well folks, this is not cause for alarm, but Lego have got their software patent on how they store model files: US6389375: Virtual reality modelling Published 5/14/02 Filed 1/14/99 The "novel idea" for which they have received patent protection is: (...) (22 years ago, 3-Sep-02, to lugnet.cad)
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