$521 Million Verdict against Microsoft!

[JDex]

Wow... that is crazy.

How would it affect the web industry?>

In the end, it would be good for business, kindof like y2k was, but yeah it could get nasty, if lots of companies decide that they don't want to pay to be on the web anymore. To bad people infringed on a patent.

[betelgeuse]

Ha, ha, I wouldn't worry about it too much. This reminds me of the British company that claimed they patented the hyperlink (http://news.com.com/2100-1033-955001.html?tag=fd_top). This affects every browser, not just IE; and the case is not over. It's being appealed. At the very least, Microsoft could tie up the issue in courts for years with appeals.

[Vushvush]

Eolas also came up with the "e" logo, which IBM purchased the rights to use in 1997.


hehehe.... everytime one of these issues comes up I'm like "I can't believe I never patented the letter A...with....with.... an underline!"

Seriously, I hate microsoft as much as anyone, but come on. It pisses me off that people can invent a "concept."

It's one thing to make a product that contains a patent, and another to simply say "yeah, I thought of that first!"

[mattregnier]

I'm sure by now M$ already has the guy bumped off, and the lawsuit is over :)

[JMulder]

I have to say, I'm really getting sick of this pattern:

1. I patent some 'idea' or 'method' but do nothing to produce or promote it.
2. Someone else develops a similar method and starts using it.
3. Rather than fighting the infringement at this time (or warning the infringing company if the patent hasn't been awarded yet), I wait until the method is a widespread 'standard'.
4. Now I sue the 'someone else' from step two and get rich.

Patents need to be consistently defended, IMHO.

[richcz3]

I have to say, I'm really getting sick of this pattern:

1. I patent some 'idea' or 'method' but do nothing to produce or promote it.
2. Someone else develops a similar method and starts using it.
3. Rather than fighting the infringement at this time (or warning the infringing company if the patent hasn't been awarded yet), I wait until the method is a widespread 'standard'.
4. Now I sue the 'someone else' from step two and get rich.

Patents need to be consistently defended, IMHO.

Yup thats basicaly it, and you will notice most of these companies never bankrolled the market tests to see if their patents were effective.
A most recent case involved eBay's "Buy Now" method.
Some millionaire patented the idea and never developed it for the market. So Ebay does the investment and test markets it and finaly implements it.... then Walla...lawsuit...he gets 35 Million.

These patent holders wait on the sidelines and then get their patent lawyers to work. I have been studying the patent process for my own products and its seriously flawed which opens up doors up to abuse.

Yeah Microsoft is also being taken to court for another patent infringement. This one concerns the .Net

http://news.com.com/2100-1023_3-274638.html

This kind of nonsense has to stop or any hopes of progress or innovation will get locked up in patents that people or companies never intend to implement. :shame:

richcz3

[betelgeuse]

Well, it looks like this verdict is going to have major impact. To wit:

In early 2004, Microsoft will make changes available that will provide a modifed experience for users of its Internet Explorer browser for Windows. The changed version will handle active content, such as QuickTime, Macromedia Flash, Java and other ActiveX controls in a new way. Rather than automatically rendering and displaying active content, the updated browser prompts the user to confirm each active content item on a page. As a result, many web users will not continue to enjoy the seamless experience they are used to when browsing the web.

What's kind of ridiculous is that main work around is to take the object/embed code (that will henceforth prompt a user dialog box) and put it in an external javascript that is called by the html page as in:
document.write('<OBJECT CLASSID="CLSID:6BF52A52-394A-11d3-........
This is the big annoying change. You'll just have to take all your object/embed tags out and reference them through an external javascript. The pages will be exactly the same as before, it's just that the active content tags will be dynamically written through javascript.

Some links:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/ieupdate/activexchanges.asp
http://developer.apple.com/internet/ieembedfaq.html

[richcz3]

There has to be a way to bring a Class Action Lawsuit against EOLAS.
For full blown Web developers: Can you see old, long forgotten clients coming out of the woodwork demanding their site be fixed.


richz3

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