[FoRK] Re: Patent madness

[Stephen D. Williams]

AOL's client / server (cluster) setup used asynchronous back channels 
all the time "with no interference with the display and behavior of the 
existing page."  How do you think that Buddylist (from 1995) worked?

In fact, a web browser that supports multiple windows also seems to meet 
the patent requirements.

Seems pretty weak.  I have not patented a lot more clever stuff.  I 
recently decided not to patent a really pure little data layout 
algorithm that I think is pretty clever.

sdw

Rohit Khare wrote:
>>
>
> Hey, gang, I just wanted to post this reference to patent 6418462, in 
> case some future search for prior art comes up. IIRC, Ocean Tomo was a 
> player in the "CommerceOne Web Services" patent rigamarole...
>
>> Hi!
>>
>> Sorry this got buried in my inbox -- with a subject line like that, 
>> you know it's got to be s*am :) :)
>>
>> I gather that you're not a party to the patent at hand, though I'd be 
>> glad to offer advice to anyone who was nosing around the area. 
>> Ourselves, we decided against patenting because of the Netscape 
>> multi-part 'push' proposals in the mid-90's...
>>
>> Looks like the comment period on that news article is finished so I 
>> suspect merely posting to FoRK with this pat # reference would be the 
>> best I could do to lay down a marker if anyone needs to find me.
>>
>> Would you mind if I reposted this exchange to FoRK?
>>
>> Best,
>>   RK
>>
>> On Mar 25, 2008, at 1:39 PM, Brent Ashley wrote:
>>> Hello Rohit;
>>>
>>>  I did a bunch of Remote Scripting innovation way back when, never 
>>> spoke with you although I had a lot of conversations with Scott 
>>> Andrew Le Pera when he was at KnowNow.
>>>
>>>  Today I saw this article 
>>> (http://www.regdeveloper.co.uk/2008/03/25/ajax_patent_auction/) 
>>> about a patent that seems to be for sale.  From what I've read, it's 
>>> specific to a server-initiated backchannel, so very much like 
>>> KnowNow's work and to my mind not analogous to most client-driven 
>>> Ajax patterns.
>>>
>>>  I thought you would be interested to know since if anyone could 
>>> provide prior art, it might be you.
>>>
>>> - Brent -
>>>
>
> AJAX patent threat to giants under the hammer
>
> By Phil Manchester
>
> IP 101 for Web 2.0
>
> A patent scheduled for sale next month in San Francisco could threaten 
> some of the biggest players on the internet leading Web 2.0.
>
> Listed in Ocean Tomo's spring auction catalog as lot number seven, 
> patent number 6,418,462: "Discloses methods allowing clients to 
> perform tasks through a sideband communication channel, in addition to 
> the main communication channel between a client and server".
>
> In supporting documentation it is claimed that pretty much the whole 
> of the web uses this method to operate AJAX-based applications. 
> Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Apple and eBay are identified as among those 
> whose products "potentially" infringe on the patent.
>
> Singled out are AJAX mashups including Google Maps and Gmail, and 
> Microsoft "Live" - the latter being a broad and slightly nebulous 
> category. Also in the frame are Amazon's S3 and EC2 and clusters from 
> Microsoft, VMware and Oracle. eBay's Skype, Napster and Microsoft's 
> Groove are also listed as potentially infringing on the patent in P2P.
>
> The claim centers on the way AJAX uses background processes: "Most 
> significantly, the patent is directed to the core concept fundamental 
> to AJAX: extra data requested from the server may be loaded in the 
> background, through an asynchronous data request channel, thereby 
> ensuring that there is no interference with the display and behavior 
> of the existing page".
>
> Clearly if the claim is valid, the value of the patent - filed in 1999 
> and issued in 2002 - is substantial. It will be interesting to see who 
> bids and what the new owner does with it. One possible option on the 
> table is to prosecute claimed infringers, cashing in through the US 
> courts.
>
> Ocean Tomo auction president Andrew Ramer said simply in a statement 
> ownership of this patent presented a "unique opportunity" to secure 
> the existing development efforts and provide "long-term competitive 
> advantage" for developers, internet companies and sites in AJAX and 
> Web 2.0.®
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