The next time you try typing an emoticon on your cellphone, be prepared to pay Cingular a royalty. Well, probably not. But companies that develop software or hardware to display smileys (i.e., via dedicated keys or macros) may find themselves in Cingular's crosshairs now that the US Patent and Trademark Office has granted the company a patent for using a "mobile phone (or other device) to select a displayable icon, such as an emoticon, that indicates the mood or emotion of the user.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Cingular claims emoticon patent
The next time you try typing an emoticon on your cellphone, be prepared to pay Cingular a royalty. Well, probably not. But companies that develop software or hardware to display smileys (i.e., via dedicated keys or macros) may find themselves in Cingular's crosshairs now that the US Patent and Trademark Office has granted the company a patent for using a "mobile phone (or other device) to select a displayable icon, such as an emoticon, that indicates the mood or emotion of the user.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment