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Compton's Broad Patent Claims Rile Software Developers. (Originated from San Jose Mercury News, Calif.)

Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, November, 1993 by Flynn, Laurie

LAS VEGAS--Nov. 17--Software developers reacted angrily to an announcement Tuesday that the nation's largest multimedia developer had received a far-reaching patent it claims gives it ownership of some of the industry's most innovative development.

Compton's New Media of Carlsbad said it will use a patent it received in August on its CD-ROM encyclopedia to collect royalties on any program that uses graphics, sound and animation rather than only text to search and retrieve information stored in data bases.

Depending on how broadly the patent is interpreted, that could mean hundreds, potentially thousands, of programs that have been on the market for years now are instantly in violation.

Software developers and analysts accused Compton's of putting up...

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