On Thu, 3 May 2018 11:02:00 -0700, Adrian Klaver
<adrian.klaver@aklaver.com> wrote:
>On 05/03/2018 09:47 AM, George Neuner wrote:
>>
>> ..., I would not discount the possibility that Microsoft really
>> has patented some variation of CSV. They absolutely did *try* to
>> copyright the use of + and - symbols for specifying addition and
>> subtraction operations in VisualBASIC.
>
>Not seeing it:
>
>http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=0&f=S&l=50&TERM1=microsoft&FIELD1=AANM&co1=AND&TERM2=csv&FIELD2=&d=PTXT
That's the patent database. Microsoft tried to get a *copyright*. I
don't recall whether it was granted [I don't believe it was], and this
would have been circa ~1990, so it's hard to search for in any case.
Unlike the patent database, the copyright database does not contain
the protected material - it only gives archival references to it.
It generated quite a bit of negative press coverage at the time. The
basis of Microsoft's argument was that "x + y" was a unique and
protectable expression of the addition concept because it could have
been done in other ways, e.g., by "add(x,y)".
George
