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Apple has a patent on the Dock. https://www.google.com/patents/US7434177 https://www.google.com/patents/US7434177 And clickable pull-down menus in the menu bar

Apple has a patent on the Dock. https://www.google.com/patents/US7434177 https://www.google.com/patents/US7434177 And clickable pull-down menus in the menu bar. https://www.google.com/patents/USD629412 https://www.google.com/patents/USD629412 The legal system strikes again.

auvi 13y ago
Wow, I was surprised to see that Apple has patents on those, especially the one on pull-down menus. Wasn't pull-down menus there in some old Xerox computer?
- sbuk 13y ago
  Pull-downs are entirely Apple's: http://folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=On_Xerox,_Apple_and_Progress.txt http://folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=On_Xerox,_Apple_and_P... and http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Busy_Being_Born.txt http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Busy_Being_Born.t...
  - pera 13y ago
    That's interesting, IIRC pull-downs were used in GEM and Amiga Workbench too...
    - sbuk 13y ago
      They both did, but came after Apples implement implementation in Lisa.
    - Someone 13y ago
      The Apple Lisa was released in January 1983, GEM was first demoed in November 1984 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphical_Environment_Manager http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphical_Environment_Manager, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COMDEX http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COMDEX), and Amiga Workbench was released in july 1985 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workbench_(AmigaOS) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workbench_(AmigaOS), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_1000 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_1000) I don't think anybody ever claimed parallel inventions here.
Argorak 13y ago
Ubuntu has a dock-like-launcher and pull-downs in the menu bar. Interesting.
huxley 13y ago
The menu patent is for translucent menus "large, lower rectangle that conveys the impression of a translucent/transparent surface"
chc 13y ago
I am not a patent lawyer, but the second patent appears to be for an interface where windows can situationally be rendered translucent, not for the general idea of pull-down menus.
mindslight 13y ago
So that affects how the project is hosted, big whoop. Another "amazing" property of platforms without a gatekeeper! (PS- pretending the lawlers' games are important just serves to propagate their influence)
throwawaykf03 13y ago
The Dock patent is specifically on the dynamic resizing and repositioning of icons when moused over. A plain collection of icons won't infringe this patent. The second patent is a design patent, which means you'd have to have a menu exactly like that to infringe. Funnily enough, one of the icons in the figures in the first patent is for Internet Explorer. I think I also spied one for Word.
- rsynnott 13y ago
  It's from 1999; at that time, Apple shipped IE.
  - throwawaykf03 13y ago
    Yep, just seems funny today.
- thrillgore 13y ago
  I actually never understood the usability behind growing/shrinking the Dock icons. Good icons have enough of a profile to be distinguishable when they're small.
kunai 13y ago
Oh shit. Ubuntu better change their menus... ...that they've been using from 2005. Oh, they also really have to change their dock!... ...that they've been using from 2011. The menu patent is a design patent, so you'd have to have a translucent menubar and menus to infringe. The Dock patent is, I believe, strictly for magnification and behavior, so icons arranged in a row do not infringe.

auvi 13y ago

Wow, I was surprised to see that Apple has patents on those, especially the one on pull-down menus. Wasn't pull-down menus there in some old Xerox computer?

sbuk 13y ago
Pull-downs are entirely Apple's: http://folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=On_Xerox,_Apple_and_Progress.txt http://folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=On_Xerox,_Apple_and_P... and http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Busy_Being_Born.txt http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Busy_Being_Born.t...
- pera 13y ago
  That's interesting, IIRC pull-downs were used in GEM and Amiga Workbench too...
  - sbuk 13y ago
    They both did, but came after Apples implement implementation in Lisa.
  - Someone 13y ago
    The Apple Lisa was released in January 1983, GEM was first demoed in November 1984 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphical_Environment_Manager http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphical_Environment_Manager, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COMDEX http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COMDEX), and Amiga Workbench was released in july 1985 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workbench_(AmigaOS) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workbench_(AmigaOS), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_1000 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_1000) I don't think anybody ever claimed parallel inventions here.

Argorak 13y ago

Ubuntu has a dock-like-launcher and pull-downs in the menu bar. Interesting.

huxley 13y ago

The menu patent is for translucent menus "large, lower rectangle that conveys the impression of a translucent/transparent surface"

chc 13y ago

I am not a patent lawyer, but the second patent appears to be for an interface where windows can situationally be rendered translucent, not for the general idea of pull-down menus.

mindslight 13y ago

So that affects how the project is hosted, big whoop. Another "amazing" property of platforms without a gatekeeper! (PS- pretending the lawlers' games are important just serves to propagate their influence)

throwawaykf03 13y ago

The Dock patent is specifically on the dynamic resizing and repositioning of icons when moused over. A plain collection of icons won't infringe this patent. The second patent is a design patent, which means you'd have to have a menu exactly like that to infringe. Funnily enough, one of the icons in the figures in the first patent is for Internet Explorer. I think I also spied one for Word.

rsynnott 13y ago
It's from 1999; at that time, Apple shipped IE.
- throwawaykf03 13y ago
  Yep, just seems funny today.
thrillgore 13y ago
I actually never understood the usability behind growing/shrinking the Dock icons. Good icons have enough of a profile to be distinguishable when they're small.

kunai 13y ago

Oh shit. Ubuntu better change their menus... ...that they've been using from 2005. Oh, they also really have to change their dock!... ...that they've been using from 2011. The menu patent is a design patent, so you'd have to have a translucent menubar and menus to infringe. The Dock patent is, I believe, strictly for magnification and behavior, so icons arranged in a row do not infringe.