Coming soon to an inbox near you:
We recently observed several useful navigation features within the user interface or your site www.museumtour.com. For example your site includes several selectors or tabs that correspond to specific locations within your site documents. These selectors seem to reside in their own frame or part of the user interface. And, as such, the selectors are not lost when a different part of the document is displayed to the user – see screen shots from museumtour.com enclosed. By seperating the selectors from the content, Museumetour has truly simplified site navigation and improved the shopping experience for its users.
As you review the Structured Document Patent you will notice that the above-discussed features appear to infringe several issued claims in our patent. In light of Museum Tours presumed respect for the intellectual property rights of others, we are pleased to offer you a Preferred Rate license under the structured Document Patent – see enclosed rate schedule.
Yup, if you have a set of consistent menu/navigation icons (framed or not) to the side of each page of your site, or as tabs across the top, you, too, are infringing on SBC’s patent. Pay up now while rates are low.
It makes you wonder what world the Patent Office is living on. Except that their pages seem to violate the patent, too. As do mine.
Next up, patents on paragraphing, sentences, and books that read from front to back.
People will try and make a buck out of anything.
I think I might go buy a forest and then charge everyone for breathing the air it produces.
SBC = Ameritech
Why am I not supprised?
No surprises there.