Null terminator patent- April FOOLs joke?

[marwk at levels.sait.edu.au]

>>     This method consists of using an aligned set of eight consecutive
>>     zero bits to unambiguously mark the termination point of a text string
>>     stored in a character array.
>
>>     Please be advised that the "null terminator octet" method is
>>     covered by US Patent 4 910401 granted to Lextech SA, and as
>>     such may not be used without permission.

> suggestion.  Declare all your strings one extra byte long and rewrite
> your strXXX functions to look for two (2) "8 bit 0" bytes.  Then lets
> all write a letter to Lex and tell them where they can stick the extra
> byte.
>
>       Craig (mwizard at eecs.ee.pdx.edu)

Surely this is an April FOOL's joke?

Ray
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