Microsoft Patents 'IsNot'

[Steve Holden]

Martin v. Löwis wrote:

> Neal D. Becker wrote:
> 
>> Doesn't Python (along with probably every other language ever invented)
>> display prior art here?
> 
> 
> Wrt. claim 1, yes. Actually, C is prior art here: you have two
> expressions representing pointers, and you have a system where
> you can determine that the pointers refer to different memory
> locations.
> 
> Wrt. claim 2, nothing is prior art.
> 
> Wrt. claim 3, Python is *not* prior art, because Python's operator
> is the two keywords "is not", not the single keyword "IsNot". Paragraph
> [0050] elaborates that the claim extends beyond the literal spelling
> they give (e.g. to "is_not", "isnot" etc.), but apparently not to
> having the operator written with *two* keywords. C is also not prior
> art, because the operator (==) is not written in letters.
> [...]

This makes me want to patent FuckingRidiculous. Or perhaps I should make 
that SingleClickFuckingRidiculous?

I seriously wonder how long the US Patent Office is prepared to continue 
making an ass of itself.

regards
  Steve
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