Microsoft Proves Pronouns Patentable

[theodp]

Five days after arguing that the Eolas browser plug-in patent should
be invalidated as obvious, Microsoft pocketed a patent of its own for
'Computer programming language pronouns', which covers the use of
ellipses, blanks, and ditto marks as substitutes for names in a
computer programming language. Perhaps the USPTO was won over by the
patent's eloquent conclusion: 'Eliminating names is a substantial
benefit as programmers dislike creating names.'

See the patent at:
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=6,748,585