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List:       kde-core-devel
Subject:    Re: Taskbar grouping patented by MS - Mentions kde-look ml
From:       "Friedrich W. H. Kossebau" <Friedrich.W.H () Kossebau ! de>
Date:       2004-07-04 10:01:38
Message-ID: 200407041201.51853.Friedrich.W.H () Kossebau ! de
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Am Samstag, 3. Juli 2004 23:39 schrieb Heiko Evermann:
> Hi Thiago,
>
> >>>Didn't the first KDE release (in 1996?) include a taskbar?
> >>
> >>Kde was later than Win95.
> >
> >As far as I know, if you release something before you file for its
> >patent, you lose the right to do so. So Microsoft cannot later decide
> >to patent something they released two years before.
> >
> >Or am I wrong?
>
> This is right e.g. for the patent system that we used to have in
> Germany. But as far as I remember, it is wrong for the patent system in
> the US. There you just have to prove that you were the first to do it,
> and it is not to your disadvantage that you published it yourself
> beforehand.

AFAIR in the U.S. it's still limited to one year after the first publication 
(of course, your own) to have you request a patent, after that you lost the 
right, too.

Friedrich
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