Microsoft Seeks Patent On Checking The Status Of An Order Via IM

Note: A CRLF will be replaced by a break tag (&lt;br&gt;), all other allowable HTML will remain intact
Allowed HTML Tags: &lt;b&gt; &lt;i&gt; &lt;a&gt; &lt;em&gt; &lt;br&gt; &lt;strong&gt; &lt;blockquote&gt; &lt;hr&gt; &lt;tt&gt;

theodp writes "According to USPTO documents released Thursday, customers wishing to check on the status of an order placed with a seller may run afoul of a pending Microsoft patent for Business inquiries and operations using messaging service. In March, Microsoft called on the USPTO to just-say-no to patents for "obvious" well-known business practices."

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

(Flattened / Threaded)

Well, obviously...
Anonymous Hero, May 20th, 2005 @ 1:37pm

In March, Microsoft called on the USPTO to just-say-no to patents for "obvious" well-known business practices."
For everyone except Microsoft, that is.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Well, obviously...
Chomper, May 23rd, 2005 @ 1:06pm

Geez, I wouldn't be surprised if this is used to extract license fees for IM tech support.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here
Name
Email	Get Techdirt’s Daily Email
URL
Subject
Comment	this is for spambots, do not use this
Options	Save me a cookie

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here
Name
Email	Get Techdirt’s Daily Email
URL
Subject
Comment	this is for spambots, do not use this
Options	Save me a cookie

Top Posts - PostRank