Company Claims To Have Patented XML; Plans To Sue Everyone
from the um,-hello,-prior-art dept
Another day, another patent troll. A small firm that has gone through a variety of businesses has just "discovered" an old patent they have that they believe covers XML. The patents in question cover dealing with "data in neutral form." Of course, there's a ridiculous amount of prior art on this, not to mention the fact that the earlier patent was filed in 1997, when XML was already pretty far along. This is pretty much the definition of a patent troll. It's not about innovation (or even inventing something new). It's about a firm that got a broad patent on a very general idea that never should have been awarded at all. Then, years later, after lots of people are actually innovating around a technology -- none of whom are doing so because they got the idea from this patent -- the company suddenly steps up with a lawyer and says "pay up, now."
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Bah
Enforcing a patent on a technology whose birth and development is so well-documented and so well-known since the late '60? No way.
This is no obscure bit or shared memory or whatever SCO focussed on with his IBM litigation about Linux. This is the whole XML thing dated back to HTML and SGML and back to GML in the late sixties...
Couldn't it be that they are just looking for some time under the spotlight? Just an advertisement trick?
I would not be worried.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Patent Life
I love patent laws.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Spank them.
If the company truly owned a patent from 1997, then why have they waited nearly 10 years to pursue action on it? It's no one's fault but their own if they didn't know they had it. There should be statue of limitations on IP different from the 20+ years a patent is valid for. For example, you have 5 years to pursue monetary compensation for a patent or other IP. If you haven't done it by then, then you can't come, after the fact, claiming you own it if it's in worldwide use.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Spank them.
I hold a patent and all of a sudden I'm expected to know what people are doing with it on a global scale? Is there some patent spycam network that I get access to or what?
So to revise your idea and make it more workable, let's say a year from when you first knew about said abuse. Of course, proof of knowledge is hard to come by, but would be the only fair way to proceed.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Only looked at the first patent(5,842,213) so far.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but XML seems very hierarchical.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
XML
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Maybe this will help get rid of XML
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Patent on...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Spank them.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
But I've found that 80% of my use of XML can be done using YAML: faster, cheaper, and easily.
http://www.yaml.org
YAML is free. Whether or not it violates the "xml patent" is up to your lawyer to determine.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Good for them
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Patent Life
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Only looked at the first patent(5,842,213) so
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
from Monday, September 23, 2002 at http://archives.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/Music/09/23/uk.silence/
---------------------------------------- ----
LONDON, England -- A bizarre legal battle over a minute's silence in a recorded song has ended with a six-figure out-of-court settlement.
British composer Mike Batt found himself the subject of a plagiarism action for including the song, "A One Minute Silence," on an album for his classical rock band The Planets.
He was accused of copying it from a work by the late American composer John Cage, whose 1952 composition "4'33"" was totally silent.
---------------------------------------------
And what the hell can I add to that?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Sue Happy?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Sue Happy?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
The real issue...
Small company makes big claims on XML patents
-end snip-
Small company just got a heap of extra hits to its website, its name gets spread around and possibly a few more new clients...
Is this "news" or just a cleverly hidden plug?
Any coverage is good coverage to some...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: The real issue...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Patent on...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]