From: Nicolas Popp (nico@realnames.com)
Date: Tue Mar 14 2000 - 17:53:14 PST
The already have...
-Nico
http://customer.realnames.com/Virtual.asp?page=Eng_Corporate_PressRelease_01
1199
Press Releases
U.S. DISTRICT COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF CENTRAAL CORPORATION
Netword's Patent Infringement Suit Tossed Out
(For related press coverage - click here)
Palo Alto, Calif., (January 11, 1999) - The U.S. district court for the
Eastern District of Virginia in a hearing on Friday, January 8, granted
summary judgment of non-infringement in favor of Centraal Corporation on
Netword LLC's U.S. Patent No. 5,764,906. Netword had filed a patent
infringement suit against Centraal in July, 1998 alleging that Centraal's
RealNames Navigation System and its RealNames Enabler browser extension
infringed the claims of Netword's patent. The Court granted Centraal's
motion for summary judgment of non-infringement finding that the RealNames
System and the RealNames Enabler browser extension did not infringe any of
the claims of Netword's patent.
"We are pleased by the fact that Judge Brinkema properly interpreted the
claims of Netword's patent and understood that Centraal's RealNames system,
including the Enabler browser extension, operated in a fundamentally
different way than the system claimed in Netword's patent," said Todd Noah
of Dergosits & Noah LLP in San Francisco who argued Centraal's motion for
summary judgment.
-----Original Message-----
From: Gregory Alan Bolcer [mailto:gbolcer@endtech.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2000 1:45 PM
To: FoRK
Subject: URNs
MS decides to go with RealNames, grabs a 20% chunk[1]. Look out though,
Netword LLC, despite the orignal URN proposal being published in the
public domain in 1994, claims that they have a patent on the concept.[2][3]
It'll be interesting to see if Netword becomes interested in enforcing its
patent now that RealNames has the deep pockets of MSFT, the company everyone
loves to beat the crap out of. I have no doubt this is where it's heading.
(Sorry
Nico).
Greg
Last updated: TUESDAY, MARCH 14, 2000, 8:30 AM
MS, RealNames to eliminate URL, AOL keywords[3]
from user experience: Microsoft Chief Executive Officer
Steve Ballmer will today announce that the company has
acquired a 20 percent stake in software developer
RealNames. RealNames markets technology similar to
AOL's proprietary, closed keyword system that substitutes
short "keywords" for formal "www" addresses on browsers,
aiding users in their quest to move directly to sections of
corporate Web pages by entering the names of specific
products -- "Windows 2000" or "Steve Ballmer," for
example. The announcement comes just a month after
RealNames revealed that its customer database had been
penetrated, and that user credit card numbers and passwords
may have been accessed.
[1]
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-1571335.html?tag=st.ne.1002.tgif?st.ne.
fd.gif.d
[2] http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,13039,00.html
[3] http://www.patents.ibm.com/details?patent_number=5764906
[4] http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,13039,00.html
-- Greg Bolcer email: gbolcer@endtech.com web: http://www.endtech.com work: 714.505.4970 cell: 714.928.5476 fax: 603.994.0516
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