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• 

  McGroarty, 21 Jul 2004 @ 8:51am

  
  

  Debian

  They're going to have to sue Debian (specifically, Ian) for retroactive patent abuse.

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• 

  theodp, 21 Jul 2004 @ 9:02am

  
  

  Date of 'Invention'

  It's still a ridiculous patent (I believe the University of Illinois' PLATO System was doing something similar back in the 70's!), but the date does seem to go back a bit further:
  
  LIST OF RELATED APPLICATIONS
  This is a combined Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/641,010, filed on Apr. 29, 1996, and entitled "COMPUTER-IMPLEMENTED TRANSPORT OF ELECTRONIC INFORMATION OBJECTS," which is a Continuation-in-Part of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/251,824, filed on May 31, 1994, and entitled "SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATIC UNATTENDED ELECTRONIC INFORMATION TRANSPORT BETWEEN A SERVER AND A CLIENT BY A VENDOR PROVIDED TRANSPORT SOFTWARE WITH A MANIFEST LIST," which as U.S. Pat. No. 5,420,820 on May 30, 1995, and U.S. application Ser. No. 08/982,157, filed on Dec. 1, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,125,388 and entitled "COMPUTER-IMPLEMENTED TRANSPORT OF ELECTRONIC INFORMATION OBJECTS," which is a Continuation of the aforementioned Ser. No.08/251,724 filed May 31, 1994 (now U.S. Pat. No. 5,694,546). All of the above-identified applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

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• 

  philsco, 21 Jul 2004 @ 10:03am

  
  

  skeptical

  A bit skeptical about the veracity of the news bit. Because in a litigation-based economy, it would be a tactical mistake to sue the biggest players. You would go after outfits that might have to settle fast to avoid litigation costs. The strategy would be to ‘fly under the radar’ for some time.

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  • 

    data64, 21 Jul 2004 @ 3:23pm

    
    

    Re: skeptical

    The strategy would be to ‘fly under the radar’ for some time.

    You mean like SCO did ?

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  • 

    Chris Reuter, 22 Jul 2004 @ 1:09pm

    
    

    Re: skeptical

    Because in a litigation-based economy, it would be a tactical mistake to sue the biggest players.

    Not necessarily. Big companies have a) deep pockets and b) an obligation to maximize their profits. If the patent-owner can convice the company that it'd just be cheaper to settle, they'll often roll over.

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• 

  z0idberg, 21 Jul 2004 @ 9:57pm

  
  

  own medicine

  microsoft will have to be careful what arguments it makes in defending itself. I can see microsoft coming up with plenty of arguments why this is an invalid patent then the same arguments being used against them for the thousands of ridiculous patents that they hold or are applying for.

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