Editing Håkan Lans (section)

== Computer graphics ==

In the late 1960s, Lans invented a [[graphics tablet]] with a handheld [[graphics tablet#pucks|puck]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Larsson |first=Thomas |last2=Stenlund |first2=Ulf |date=2008 |title=Vignettes of Sweden's Computer Graphics History |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/235249 |journal=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=50–58 |issn=1934-1547}}</ref> He sold the technology to [[Houston Instruments]], which marketed the device as the ''HIpad'' in 1971. Some thereby claim Lans to be the inventor of the [[computer mouse]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Hakan Lans |url=https://www.epo.org/en/news-events/european-inventor-award/meet-the-finalists/hakan-lans}}</ref> despite others making similar inventions independently several years earlier.<ref name="Bardini_2000_2">{{cite book |author-last=Bardini |author-first=Thierry |title=Bootstrapping: Douglas Engelbart, Coevolution, and the Origins of Personal Computing |date=2000 |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |location=Stanford |isbn=978-0-8047-3871-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/bootstrapping00thie/page/95 95] |url=https://archive.org/details/bootstrapping00thie |url-access=registration}}</ref> In 1996 Lans received the highest award of the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology for his tablet puck.<ref name=vest />

Lans holds a patent on a [[memory controller]] for a [[framebuffer]]: "Data processing system and apparatus for color graphics display".<ref>{{ cite patent |country=US |number=4303986 |status=patent |title=Data processing system and apparatus for color graphics display |gdate=1981-12-01 |fdate=1979-01-09 |pridate=1979-01-09 |inventor=Lans, Håkan |invent1=Lans, Håkan }}</ref> Framebuffers with memory controllers had been in common use for years at the time of his 1979 patent filing.<ref name="Shoup_SuperPaint">{{cite web |url=https://ohiostate.pressbooks.pub/app/uploads/sites/45/2017/09/Annals_final.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040612215245/http://accad.osu.edu/~waynec/history/PDFs/Annals_final.pdf |archive-date=2004-06-12 |title=SuperPaint: An Early Frame Buffer Graphics System |author=Richard Shoup |publisher=IEEE |work=Annals of the History of Computing |year=2001 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1997 Lans as an individual sued eleven companies for allegedly infringing his patent. The eleven cases were soon combined. The merits of the case were never heard, however, because the defendants, led by [[Digital Equipment Corporation]], counterclaimed that the patent had been assigned to Uniboard AB, a patent holding company wholly owned by Lans. Lans lost the case and was ordered to pay defendants' legal fees, a ruling that was upheld on appeal.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Alpman |first1=Marie |title=HÅKAN LANS LOST |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061203000323/http://www.nyteknik.se/art/47514 |access-date=10 February 2025 |work=Ny Teknik |date=10 June 2016}}</ref> The subsequent attempted suit by Uniboard AB failed because the patent had expired ten months before the suit.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hakan Lans v. Digital Equipment {{!}} Casetext |url=https://casetext.com/analysis/hakan-lans-v-digital-equipment |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=casetext.com}}</ref>

These legal failures led to a dispute between Lans and his attorneys, who Lans sued for misconduct. The attorneys' defense was that they had not been told about the transfer to Uniboard AB.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://mobergpublications.se/patents/letter1.pdf |title=The Håkan Lans Case}}</ref> This suit was settled in April 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/it_telekom/datorer/article3464740.ece |title=Håkan Lans pustar ut efter förlikning - NyTeknik |work=nyteknik.se |date=26 April 2012 |accessdate=4 May 2012 |archive-date=29 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120429042304/http://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/it_telekom/datorer/article3464740.ece |url-status=dead }}</ref> 

In 1984 Lans patented a color [[Calligraphic projection|calligraphic]] photo plotter,<ref>{{ cite patent |country=US |number=4717928 |status=patent |title=Arrangement for producing a pattern on a light-sensitive surface |gdate=1988-01-05 |fdate=1986-07-10 |pridate=1984-09-10 |inventor=Lans, Håkan |invent1=Lans, Håkan |invent2=Cano, Jean |assign1=Inrad S.A }}</ref> though it was never mass produced. Despite color displays,<ref>{{cite press release | publisher = Atari Incorporated | date = 1981-09-24 | url = https://www.arcade-museum.com/manuals-monitors/Atari-Monitor-TM-183-2nd-Printing-WG-6100-XY-Quadrascan.pdf | access-date = 2025-02-06 | title= Atari's New Color Quadrascan (X-Y) Monitor}}</ref> color frame buffers,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Peddie |first=Jon |date=2018-10-07 |title=GPU History: Hitachi ARTC HD63484 |url=https://www.computer.org/publications/tech-news/chasing-pixels/gpu-history-hitachi-artc-hd63484/ |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=IEEE Computer Society |language=en-US}}</ref> and color calligraphic displays<ref>{{cite web |last=Margolin |first=Jed | title = The Secret Life of X-Y Monitors| date = 2002-03-01 | url = https://www.arcade-museum.com/manuals-monitors/FAQ-The-secret-Life-of-XY-Monitors-(Jed-Margolin).pdf | access-date = 2025-02-06}}</ref> already being common prior to 1984, Lans insists that his filings constitute the invention of color computer graphics.<ref name=vest>{{Cite news |title=Swedish inventor of the computer mouse awarded |work=Vestkusten |date=1 September 1996 |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=VEST19960901.2.37&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-------- |access-date=2025-02-11}}</ref>