Digi-BrushPatent Liability

Presenter: Caleb Ayew-ewTeam Members:

Josh LongKatie Schremser

Possible Patents Infringed Upon• DIGITAL PAINTING• Patent Number: 6,870,550• Filing Date: Apr. 26, 1999• Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated• Similar operational claims:

– 1. … in response to the user indicating the position, automatically applying multiple brush strokes in an area of the digital canvas defined with respect to the indicated position, the brush strokes being based on color information contained in a corresponding reference…

– 4. The method of claim 1 in which the brush strokes are applied only when applying them would produce a smaller color difference between the area of the canvas and the reference.• METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DIGITAL

PAINTING• Patent Number: 5,835,086• Filing Date: Nov. 26, 1997• Assignee: Microsoft Corp.• Similar operational claims:

– 1. A method of painting a digital picture having a viewing portion displayed on a video display, comprising the steps of: receiving a series of painting strokes; …

– 2. A method as in claim 1, wherein the step of receiving detects movement of a pointing device which indicates traces of the painting strokes.

• DIGITAL MARK-MAKING METHOD• Patent Number: 5,767,860 • Filing Date: Dec. 7, 1995 • Assignee: MetaCreations, Corp.• Similar operational claims:

– 1. A method for creating a multi-element image digital mark-making tool for two-dimensional image field creation 25 on a computer to simulate digitally the rendering of a printed articulation to closely approximate by electronic analogy an artists tool…

– 5. …loading said multi-image digital mark making tool into a computer…

Source http://www.google.com/patents

Similarities and Differences• Digital Mark-Making Method

– Similarity: Use of a “digital mark-making tool” to represent brush strokes

– Difference: Brush strokes are represented by current color and touch-screen inputs and not a pre-loaded image.

• Method and Apparatus for Digital Painting– Similarity: Receiving a series of painting strokes– Difference: Strokes are received in a streaming style as opposed to a

buffering style• Digital Painting

– Similarity: After receiving positions apply brushstroke pattern– Difference: Only one stroke per input is applied whereas claim 1 states

multiple are applied

Handling Liability

• In the similar patents, previously discussed, there are no clear infringements on the Doctrine of Equivalents. However, if further patent analysis unveils something that operates “substantially the same way” then we will modify our software to operate in a completely different manner.

Questions / DiscussionQuestions / Discussion