Ran across a crazy sounding article today. Cingular Wireless has won a patent for the use of emoticons on cellular phones? Here is a quote from the article on ConsumerAffairs.com:
The patent applies not only to graphic versions of the ubiquitous smiley/mad face but also to simple text versions.
Cingular says the aim of the patent is to enable the displaying of graphics on its subscribers’ handsets, the patent would also prohibit sending simple text versions via a dedicated or programmable key.
Human beings have been communicating with emoticons for decades. Now all of a sudden a wireless powerhouse here in the USA can patent how one can enter in text and graphical emoticons into their text messages on a phone?
So I hit the United States Patent and Trademark Office Web site to check this out. I could not find the exact patent noted in the article, but I did search and found fourteen patents have been issued for emoticons. Who would have guessed this? Certainly not me.
Guess I better start using them on my blog before someone gets a patent on entering emoticons on blog posts. 
I thought there was such a thing in patent law as “prior art.” However, it seems to me that the USPTO has completely lost its ability and credibility when it comes to issuing patents.
I got my first cell phone about 6 years ago and it had the ability to send smileys back then.