Microsoft's new patent application

MS has filed a patent application for "emphasizing numerical data"

[softwareengineer99]

Found this on Slashdot

Microsoft has filed a patent for "visually emphasizing numerical data contained within an electronic document ".

The patent application is about an algo that can translate numbers into words (1000 to "One thousand") and then highlighting them within the document.

Just another reason why the US patent system badly needs a reform.

[httpwebwitch]

gads, I wrote a BASIC program that did that, as an enrichment project.. IN GRADE THREE

what will they patent next? integers? the letter O?

[softwareengineer99]

On merit level, IMO, its on the same level as G's search highlighting patent. Sophomore level scripts translated in legalese ...

[raywood]

httpwebwitch, if you wrote a program or a paper on the technique, that's prior art. The MS patent, if issued, might be busted based on prior art. It could be busted on "obvious to one skilled in the art", but that could be difficult arguing against a team of lawyers. Prior art, however, should be much easier.

I'm not a lawyer, but I have a desk drawer full of patents, and I have worked on several patent litigation cases as an expert witness.