2004-07-25 CY NCR attacking SME with keyboard layout patent EP0246021

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A CEO of a small software company in Cyprus writes:

I have recently been contacted by a large American company that is trying to threaten me into paying for a license for their "invention" or else they will go after my customers. The worst part is that my product, a virtual keyboard, does not even violate their patent, but because my program is programmable through scripting it is possible to create a virtual keyboard that does something similar to what is described in the patent.

The "invention" in question is the ability to change the label of a virtual key from lower case to upper case when the shift key is pressed. All they want for a license is a mere 116% of our annual turnover for the product in question as a one-time fee, plus 5% of all sales indefinently.

The "invention" they claim to have made is to change the caption on a key on a virtual keyboard from lower case to upper case when the shift key is pressed. I have written and I sell a virtual keyboard program and also a program to design virtual keyboards according to your own needs. My products do not include the "invention" claimed in the patent, but I allow VB scripts to be written in the keyboards so it is possible to create a keyboard using my product that will perform such a function.

The original US patent was filed on May 13th 1986 and issued on February 16th 1988. It has been reissiued the name of NCR with a date of February 10th 2004. This does not prolong the patent's lifetime, it means just that the patent owner changed.