Microsoft granted Page Up Page Down patent

Davey Winder
Friday, 22 August 2008 16:13

IT Industry - Strategy

Like all patents there is a lot of legal stuff thrown into the mix, and the full application goes into a lot of specific detail. No doubt the patent attorneys will be hovering around soon enough to defend Microsoft on this one.

However, it really does look like the Seattle giants have managed to patent the Page Up and Page Down process. Just look at the example quoted in the conclusion of the application abstract:

"For example, if a user is viewing a page starting in a viewing area from the middle of that page and ending at the bottom, a Page Down command will cause the next page to be shown in the viewing area starting at the middle of the next page and ending at the bottom of the next page. Similar behavior occurs when there is more than one column of pages being displayed in a row."

So there we have it, the latest in a long line of patent applications to get approval which have nothing to do with true innovation or even true ownership of a technology.

All this patent 'protects' is an idea, and even then one that Microsoft can hardly claim to have invented. Well, not while keeping a straight face anyway.

Patents should not be about something as trivial as using the Page Up and Page Down keys, and Microsoft should most certainly not be granted exclusive ownership of the concept.

Of course, as with every successful application concerning an obvious and existing idea such as this, all that happens long term is that innovation gets squashed by the big boot of corporate power.

Some of the other ideas that Microsoft has gone down the patent route with include:

"A method, comprising: selecting pixels to be used as an emoticon" or smileys in other words. Or how about the one that covers "time based hardware button for application launch" or double-clicking icons on mobile devices.

Then there was the infamous content syndication platform application which apparently had Microsoft looking for patent protection for what was, as many observers pointed out at the time, actually RSS...