[nfbcs] NFB & narrator

[Buddy Brannan]

I’m fairly certain that Henter-Joyce (there was no Freedom Scientific yet) didn’t threaten a lawsuit. In fact, Microsoft purchased, or licensed, or somehow acquired the rights to use (and then did not use) Henter-Joyce’s off-screen model. This would have been sometime around 1997, give or take. 
--
Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV - Erie, PA
Phone: (814) 860-3194 or 888-75-BUDDY



On Aug 10, 2013, at 4:20 PM, John G. Heim <jheim at math.wisc.edu> wrote:

> Hmmm.... Pressure? Mike's message wasn't clear on one point -- was Microsoft going to develop a screen reader and they stopped at least in part because the NFB asked them to? My recollection of events is that that is what happened. I think the rumors of the lawsuit were about Freedom Scientific.  At the time, Freedom Scientific displayed a marked tendency to sue other accessibility companies. I don't know if FS actually threatened a lawsuit but I am sure that's where the rumors came from. In fact, had Microsoft proceeded to develop a screen reader, I would have been greatly surprised if FS had not sued. These days we're all familiar with the term "patent troll". I'm not sure it's fair to describe FS as a patent troll but I have often felt  they claimed patents on things that should not be patentable.
> 
> So who knows what would have happened without the NFB's actions. I don't have an alternate universe machine that I can use to find out.