Potential patent issues

[Jean Crystof]

Nick Sabalausky Wrote:

> I've been under the impression that, as a rule, the USPTO doesn't check for 
> prior art and deliberately leaves "invalid due to prior art" up to the 
> courts.

That's how it works. The patent threat is always there. Someone can patent delegates, classes, and whatever language feature whenever they want. In the courts if Walter is much poorer than the competitor, he can't win. The SCO case was a great example. They didn't own the Unix rights and couldn't find any patent infringing code. Nevertheless, the Microsoft money kept them fighting. If Apple or Microsoft wants to compete with Walter, he simply can't win.