Copyright is everything?
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I was doing some research about patents and Microsoft has registered this: "Drop down menus provided by a computer program are provided in two states, a short menu state and a long menu state. When a user opens a desired menu, the menu opened will initially take the form of a short menu of executable commands which are a subset of the total number of executable commands available under the selected menu. The short menu may be dynamically expanded into a long menu which will contain the complete set of executable commands available under the selected menu. The short menu may be adapted to the personal needs of the user when the user selects commands from the long menu which are not contained in the short menu. Usage information is stored and updated on the usage of each menu command added to a short menu. Menu commands are removed from the adapted short menus based on non-use of those menu commands by the user. Information stored, maintained, and updated on the usage of the menu commands added to the short menus is stored in a compact and efficient data structure which facilitates efficient computer memory use." Is there any copyright expert here? Did I get that right? If I develop a control that imitates a cool Windows or Office feature I'll probably have to license its "intellectual property" first? Come on, I'm not talking about a big GUI revolution - just a cool menu... :-) wm
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I was doing some research about patents and Microsoft has registered this: "Drop down menus provided by a computer program are provided in two states, a short menu state and a long menu state. When a user opens a desired menu, the menu opened will initially take the form of a short menu of executable commands which are a subset of the total number of executable commands available under the selected menu. The short menu may be dynamically expanded into a long menu which will contain the complete set of executable commands available under the selected menu. The short menu may be adapted to the personal needs of the user when the user selects commands from the long menu which are not contained in the short menu. Usage information is stored and updated on the usage of each menu command added to a short menu. Menu commands are removed from the adapted short menus based on non-use of those menu commands by the user. Information stored, maintained, and updated on the usage of the menu commands added to the short menus is stored in a compact and efficient data structure which facilitates efficient computer memory use." Is there any copyright expert here? Did I get that right? If I develop a control that imitates a cool Windows or Office feature I'll probably have to license its "intellectual property" first? Come on, I'm not talking about a big GUI revolution - just a cool menu... :-) wm
It's not a copyright issue, but a patent issue. Patents are related to ideas, while copyright to physical implementations. Having said this, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Microsoft is really just covering it's ass here, preventing someone else from patenting the idea and then forcing THEM to license it. I doubt highly that MS would come after anyone for patent licensing (they've never done so, except when they've been sued first, such as with Stac). But it's up to you.