> The Internet company I started in 1993, NetMarket, has prior art to
> OpenMarket's shopping cart and session ID patents.
idleQ: Did you trademark the term NetMarket at that point? If so, how
far afield?
A quick websearch on it shows a host of (likely later) NetMarkets
around the world - Singapore, Italy, Brazil.
Suddenly, trademarking every name with Net in it around the world
seems the Obvious Missed Opportunity of 1992.
> Does anyone know to whom I can forward this info for it to be useful in
> the fight against OpenMarket's patents? Patenting stuff this obvious is
> just pathetic.
Compton's got their multimedia patent. TRW got their orbit patent.
Consider these pathetic prior art.
There's a lot wrong with the US patent office, IMO. Such as 'first to
invent' when 'first to file', which the rest of the planet has
standardised on, benefits the public more. Then there's:
http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/10638.html
Who is this Orrin Hatch, and why does he understand nothing about why
patents exist?
L.
<L.Wood@surrey.ac.uk>PGP<http://www.sat-net.com/L.Wood/>+44-1483-300800x3641