Frank Leahy on Adobe's patent

Dave,

I took a look at the Adobe patent, and I would have to question whether they should have been granted the patent in the first.

Take a look at this drawing which is one of the Apple patents referenced. I'm not sure I see enough difference between what Adobe is claiming and what Apple is showing on that page to warrant a patent (except that the tabs in the Apple page are on the side).

Another case of midgets getting obvious patents by standing on the shoulders of giants (in this case Bill Atkinson who developed the tear-off menu).

An interesting historical note: I was the project manager and a programmer on "Scribe", which was the project that developed the software shown in the Apple patent (US05341293) linked to above. When patent was being filed there was a mad scramble (and I mean mad!) by everyone in ATG to make a claim on that patent (see how many people wound up with their names on the patent). Not believing that software should be patentable I stayed out of the mess even though I believe I had as much claim as many of those listed.

Best,
-- Frank