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Originally Posted by Dante Hicks
In this case, not really. Nintendo hold (or held, presumably it's expired now) the patent on the D-Pad, but the basic idea was present in an earlier controller.
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Well you can argue that the basic idea was around before. And you might be right or you might be wrong.
But the patent forms the starting point.
So patents are useful for dating these developments and then in specific cases the more astute scholar might do greater research and argue that 'actually in this case I believe the development predates the patent'. His emminent colleagues can then argue against him. But all of this academic fun only goes to justify the existence of patents. It's not an argument against them.