[fpc-pascal][OT] rant on patent issues

[Florian Klaempfl]

vkrish at vkrish.cjb.net wrote:
> Hi!,
> 
> I came across this (it's a s/w patent on method pointer).
> 
> http://164.195.100.11/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1='6185728'.WKU.&OS=PN/6185728&RS=PN/6185728
> 
> I was wondering if FPC implements method pointers the same way as is documented
> in the above patent. I also feel the above patent is the reason why C#
> delegates are slightly convoluted (having the same inventor!).

Methode pointers are a common thing. The only problems could be the 
event delegation via method pointers. But see below ...

> 
> I presume LCL, FPGUI all use method pointers (its the single most
> beautiful feature of the language). So will there be any issues to
> contend with in regard to the above mentioned patent ?
> 
> No wonder S/W patents are a bad thing....

Luckily enough, European countries don't know them (at least not yet :/).