Microsoft Metro Tiles Design... Patent Question.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4140406
by jhacks • 14 years ago
2 1 14 years ago

So, I believe that they patented this design. Yes? If I were to design a new website that uses this tile design, would I be subject to a lawsuit? Do I need a license from Microsoft? Or do they specifically look to shut down direct competitors (i.e. Apple, Google, etc.) rather than websites that don't compete whatsoever?

I thought I read they were encouraging app creator to use the metro design?

Would this then just be for apps/programs that would be used on Windows 8? And not extend to just website design?

If anyone knows and can help, that'd be great. I have a very app-like website (a lot of functionality) and rather than use icons I wanted to use a page that had a set of tiles to display the icons and information. It'd be sad if I couldn't use this design style. :(

But in regards to a patent on the tiling design... it seems like it'd be similar to patenting icons or even widgets, so I don't see how they could get that? I'm not familiar with exactly what the patent they have explicitly protects.

edit* It seems like the patent is more so for their "panorama" that they have for on all their interfaces (horizontal scrolling with the tiles/text/etc sharply cutoff... rather than the whole "live tile" thing. However, if someone can confirm this and more-or-less assure me I'm fine designing parts of my website with "live tiles" that would be great.

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