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[Article author here]

Follow the links I put in the piece.

No legal action was taken in the end, partly because they couldn't work out who to sue, and partly because of the legal principle of laches. I cover this in the last article I linked to, which I wrote, a decade ago.

Why does Miguel call it nonsense?

It is generally not of interest if you buy something or not.

For other readers it would be interesting to read evidence about the original article being wrong / right or more details that helps to better understand the situation.

I did point out the patent was near the end of its lifetime. Also, the founder of the gnome project is in this thread, calling it nonsense.

A key difference between a utility patent and a design patent is that the design patent, like a trademark, does not expire.

That is not true; a design patent from 1995 would have had a fourteen year life.

https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s1505.html

I see, I don’t know why but I was under the impression they were infinite but they apparently are not.