Microsoft Patent Trumps SBC Web Browsing Patent

from the browse-freely dept

theodp writes "The USPTO has acknowledged its original choice of prior art for SBC's Web Browsing Patent was a poor one, but has managed to come up with other prior art that it says invalidates the patent. Still, the single piece cited by the examiner is a 1995 Microsoft patent for displaying internet shortcut icons on the desktop, whose 'inventors' include the author of Windows: The Next Killer Application on the Internet, which was used to try to convince the DOJ that the company's Internet strategy was shaped before Netscape even existed." If you don't remember, this was a situation where SBC claimed they actually had a patent on any website that offered "consistent navigation" throughout the website.

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