Network Associates patents file deletion

Found on The Inquirer on Wednesday, 03 March 2004
Browse Computer

Network Associates is proudly telling the world about a new patent they've been granted by the US Patent and Trademarks Office (USPTO).

The patent goes on to describe such revolutionary techniques as: Automated upgrades of software that needs upgrading and even: Performing diagnostics on the computer.

We at the INQUIRER would like to contgratulate Network Associates on their excellent invention. They will clearly want to make good use of the patent. As a first step, might we recommend suing Microsoft for their windowsupdate.microsoft.com website, which is clearly in blatant violation of the patent, filed October 4, 2002?

All this adds extra urgency to the need for US-style software patents here in Europe. Clearly, innovation is being stifled on a huge scale when groundbreaking inventions like "generating a report including a graph that is based on a statistical analysis" are denied the protection of a state-enforced monopoly.

That's creative. I guess nobody ever thought about patenting all that. That patent once again proves that it is about time for a major overhaul of the US patent system. I think I should try to get a patent for "performing mathematical calculations using arabic numerals".