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My sister (a four cat owner) suggested purchasing one of those inexpensive laser pointers to keep the cats busy. Sure enough, two of our three felines, Molly and Junior, love chasing the laser beam wherever I happen to point it--typically all over our family room

I could have sworn I've seen this before:

http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US05443036__

They should be applauded. The GPL license enforces the honesty of their promise where the two meet in code, and to me at least it seems like they are fully aware of that and did it intentionally to protect the open source community from likely attacks.

At least one of the patents in question appears to be this one. (you may need a free registration to view)

I was only able to find one patent registered to Pangea (strange as they are an IP company ... you'd think they'd have a few more show up). In any case, this particular patent was applied for in '97, if I'm reading the application correctly. If that's indeed the case, prior art should hardly need an actual hearing.

Good luck!

This is a link to the same patent at USPTO. The filer is supposedly The Pangea Project LLC whereas PanIP appears to be named Pangea Intellectual Property ... dunno, quick inspection is all I have time for tonight!

But wouldn't they be violating Amazon's patent :Delphion.Com: on affiliate programs then??

They're both pretty much the same thing:

US5265261: Method and system for network communications using raw mode protocols

US5437013: Method and system for network communications using raw mode protocols

The second one is just newer....

They're both pretty much the same thing:

US5265261: Method and system for network communications using raw mode protocols

US5437013: Method and system for network communications using raw mode protocols

The second one is just newer....

Dimensional Media Associates (DMA) also has a patent on layer LCD screens to form a 3-D image: DMA Patent

Half of DMA are also lawyers. I smell a lawsuit.

I have been using the more interactive way to keep the cat walking on keyboard when I'm doing something with computer:
Laser pointer pointed at the wall would do magic

Sir, you must cease and desist all such activity immediately, as you are infringing on US Patent 0544303. If you send $500 to the patent owner immediately, you will not be liable for court costs or penalties.

*sigh* I wish I was kidding.

US6363499 03/26/2002 Method and system for restoring a computer to its original state after an unsuccessful installation attempt

US6363433 03/26/2002 Method and mechanism for client-side handling of extensions originally written for servers

US6363409 03/26/2002 Automatic client/server translation and execution of non-native applications

US6363404 03/26/2002 Three-dimensional models with markup documents as texture

US6363371 03/26/2002 Identifying essential statistics for query optimization for databases

USD454878 03/26/2002 Advanced game pad

US6360280 03/19/2002 Method and system for accessing shell folder capabilities by an application program

US6360272 03/19/2002 Method and apparatus for maintaining a unified view of multiple mailboxes

US6360230 03/19/2002 Method and system for uniformly accessing multiple directory services

US6360217 03/19/2002 Method and computer program product for calculating event occurrences

US6360214 03/19/2002 Automatic database statistics creation

USD454567 03/19/2002 Game pad

US6356866 03/12/2002 Method for converting a phonetic character string into the text of an Asian language

US6353928 03/05/2002 First run installer

US6353923 03/05/2002 Active debugging environment for debugging mixed-language scripting code

US6353433 03/05/2002 Digitizer interface

US6349343 02/19/2002 System and method for providing interoperability among heterogeneous object systems

US6349295 02/19/2002 Method and apparatus for performing supplemental searches over a network

US6347398 02/12/2002 Automatic software downloading from a computer network

US6345386 02/05/2002 Method and system for advertising applications

Yeah, like when my instruments aren't calibrated because the Russian government won't pay me, and it just *looks* like a 2% decrease in gravity.

"The Podkletnov effect suggests it may be possible to effectively reduce the mass of the ship, thereby reducing the overall energy needed for acceleration."

But once the spacecraft is some distance away from the device, the device will probably not have much effect. Sounds like a waste of money making a cryogenic chamber large enough to house this device which would have very little effect on a rocket.

"Cox himself is working on an anti-gravity backpack that he claims is nearing the patent stage"

I wonder what the pricetag will be on that. This is sure to join the ranks of famous humorous patents.

I'm not saying this won't work, but a lot of it sounds sketchy. The only credible part about it is that NASA is working on it. Wait a minute NASA...credibility...that doesn't sound right...I guess I was thinking about a different organization. If it does work, this device should theoretically be able to create gravity as well...sort of by conservation of gravity I guess.

what about legitimate patents like this one? You can exercise your cat with a Method of exercising a cat People have cats... cats need exercise... I see problem solved!

Alternative location for the patent. Uspto is notoriously slow.

And to clarify the story ... it was just issued. nVidia filed it 18 months ago.

Even worse, imagine if the US Patent & Trademark Office kept detailed descriptions of patented Intel technologies in its public records.

Man, I wish I came up with the patent for 1-minute abs!

Fact 1: Hinting improves font legibility at smaller sizes.

Fact 2: Freetype doesn't interpret the bytecodes in the fonts that are needed for proper hinting because of patents detained by Apple.

Fact 3: It uses an alternative bytecode "guesser". People may or may not like it, even though it usually improves legibility. This Canadian dude (I have the right to use this term because I am myself a Canadian dude ;)) only disabled the bytecode "guesser" because he didn't like it. Fine.

Fact 4: Rather than disabling the bytecode "guesser", enable the patented bytecode interpreter. Remember, this is illegal if you live in the U.S. and haven't licenced the patents from Apple.

For your enjoyment, I've made RPMs for Mandrake 8.1 and Redhat 7.2 of the Freetype library with the patented bytecode interpreter enabled.

Fact 1: Hinting improves font legibility at smaller sizes.

Fact 2: Freetype doesn't interpret the bytecodes in the fonts that are needed for proper hinting because of patents detained by Apple.

Fact 3: It uses an alternative bytecode "guesser". People may or may not like it, even though it usually improves legibility. This Canadian dude (I have the right to use this term because I am myself a Canadian dude ;)) only disabled the bytecode "guesser" because he didn't like it. Fine.

Fact 4: Rather than disabling the bytecode "guesser", enable the patented bytecode interpreter. Remember, this is illegal if you live in the U.S. and haven't licenced the patents from Apple.

For your enjoyment, I've made RPMs for Mandrake 8.1 and Redhat 7.2 of the Freetype library with the patented bytecode interpreter enabled.

Fact 1: Hinting improves font legibility at smaller sizes.

Fact 2: Freetype doesn't interpret the bytecodes in the fonts that are needed for proper hinting because of patents detained by Apple.

Fact 3: It uses an alternative bytecode "guesser". People may or may not like it, even though it usually improves legibility. This Canadian dude (I have the right to use this term because I am myself a Canadian dude ;)) only disabled the bytecode "guesser" because he didn't like it. Fine.

Fact 4: Rather than disabling the bytecode "guesser", enable the patented bytecode interpreter. Remember, this is illegal if you live in the U.S. and haven't licenced the patents from Apple.

For your enjoyment, I've made RPMs for Mandrake 8.1 and Redhat 7.2 of the Freetype library with the patented bytecode interpreter enabled.

Someone seems to have had remarkable foresight, patenting this 20 years ago. They proposed the use of liquid metal though, as I guess it would carry the heat away better (as in fast breeder reactors)

If a school wants to use the government grants available to reduce truancy by wireless linking pupil attendance records on PDAs and handhelds have to first pay Bromcom for the licence.

its patent relating to the transfer of pupil data in education by radio

Ever watch a cat mindlessly chase a laser beam?

No, I couldn't afford the patent fee :o)

I'm constantly amazed at the idealism shown on Slashdot. Politicians are about one thing, and one thing only: How can I get re-elected? The easiest way to get re-elected is to have lots of money to campaign with. The easiest way to get lots of money to campaign with is to get it from corporations. The easiest way to get lots of money from corporations is to use the "I scratch your back, you scratch mine" mentality.

They're going to uphold the current IP laws because it lets people make patents out of a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich.

Possibly not, the patent says

What is claimed is:
1. A method for intentionally making an optically readable media unreadable by a play process, comprising steps of:
providing the media with an optically activated mechanism that causes a defocusing of a readout beam, thereby degrading reflection of the readout beam from a surface wherein information is encoded;

Read the patent if you like.

Nothing new here. Consumers rejected DivX, and this is no different for them. Will they be smart enough to reject it this time around?

A patent on a "method of exercising a cat" using a laser pointer. Purely rediculous.

"A method for inducing cats to exercise consists of directing a beam of invisible light produced by a hand-held laser apparatus onto the floor or wall or other opaque surface in the vicinity of the cat, then moving the laser so as to cause the bright pattern of light to move in an irregular way fascinating to cats, and to any other animal with a chase instinct."

Try this one on for size...

http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US05443036__

The details on the patent are available at Delphion, although they no longer allow you to see all the claims for free. IIRC, though, the key to the patent was that it used a laser pointer , not just any old flashlight! You're missing the true innovation!!

So, let's look at the broadest claim of the newest patent:

1. A document delivery system for delivering one or more documents between a sender and at least one recipient, said system comprising:

a server that temporarily stores said documents, wherein said server generates a URL for each intended recipient of said documents, the URL unique to each recipient, and sends each of the URLs to each respective intended recipient; and

a database which is associated with said server and which records log data describing which recipients accessed said documents;

wherein said server sends the log data to the sender of said documents.

What are the simple limitations in this claim that make it narrow enough to be uninteresting. Well, let's see:

1. The server must store "each of the documents" temporarily. So, dynamic URLs are pretty much out.

2. Log data must be "sent to the sender." This means that if you require the sender to log back on to your side (the traditional way of doing this) instead of sending them the log, you do not infringe this claim.

What do you want to bet that none of the prior art (from BlueMountain to standard email) meet all of these criteria? And this doesn't even take into consideration the fact that likely those limitations were discussed during the prosecution of the patent. If you really want to analyze the scope of the claims -- if for example you want to invalidate the patent -- order a copy of the file wrapper from the patent office, which includes every scrap of communication between the PTO and the company. Once you've reviewed that, we can get a real discussion going.

If you actually look at the patents, and in particular 6,192,407, you will find that they cited a huge number of references, including most of the references that you have discussed. This strongly implies that the patent office actually took a look at this patent, before allowing it. Now, whether patents should be permitted at all or not is a different discussion. But assuming that no prior art technology, articles, or patents were referenced is rather silly, when the patent is available for review.

I will agree that this claim is too broad in my (not-a-legal) opinion. However, it is not nearly as broad as /. seems to imply.

So... for future reference, read the bloody patent claims (not just the abstract) before starting to bitch.

Thank you,

Thalia

The wording of the patent seems to indicate they are patenting the buffering to disk of live broadcasts in a "virtual segment within a continuous stream which moves forward in time with the stream" (their wording). Specifically named features of this patent include: "rewind", "Pause", "frame advance", and "fast forward", but they don't limit it to just those features.

Brilliant, but they will have to be careful not to infringe on any patents.

Well, prior art means exactly didley-swat!
For example, Julius Caesar used to have a combover two millenia ago. But look what i found in Delphion.

Scary, huh. If you're gonna try that you've got bigger problems than both hairloss and patent infridgement. :-)

According to the update at CNet, Microsoft specifically stated that they are watching for Opera versions because they aren't fully compliant with XHTML 1.0, and want the user to use only compliant XHTML browsers to view MSN. (Microsoft's claims)

• US05808610 09/15/1998 Method and system of docking panels

Isn't that almost exactly what Adobe were suing Macromedia over? Has the US Patent Office granted both of them almost exactly the same patent?

This could get interesting...

• US05808610 09/15/1998 Method and system of docking panels

Isn't that almost exactly what Adobe were suing Macromedia over? Has the US Patent Office granted both of them almost exactly the same patent?

This could get interesting...

The small newspaper I work at received a nasty-gram from a law firm implying that our web site may be violating a lame patent about user-updatable web pages. I think our response was to ignore it.

Iterated function system. Compression by this method is covered by US patent 4,941,193 issued 1990. This is a clearcut example of how a potentially useful mathematical technique has been largely ignored because of its patent encumbrance. Just one more example of how patents are good for lawyers and bad for everybody else. I seriously doubt Barnsley has made any money from the patent, I suspect the book produced more revenue. In any event, whatever usefulness the technique might have is lost to us until the patent runs out in another 8 years or so.

The word "asshole" comes to mind.

Do you remember the GIF patent? Unisys actually did go after software users, not just developers.

I mean, what a better proof could you find that (while patents are inherently a good thing) the way they're being handled of late is, well, kinda bad..

Does US5443036: Method of exercising a cat qualify? (IIRC, this won an IgNobel in a previous year)

Abstract:

A method for inducing cats to exercise consists of directing a beam of invisible light produced by a hand-held laser apparatus onto the floor or wall or other opaque surface in the vicinity of the cat, then moving the laser so as to cause the bright pattern of light to move in an irregular way fascinating to cats, and to any other animal with a chase instinct.

Adding real-time support to general purpose operating systems

Yodaiken's Patent on running the kernel as a RT process

The secret at small font sizes is 'hinting', as someone else pointed out. See patent USUS5325479: Method and apparatus for moving control points in displaying digital typeface on raster output devices. This is a patent granted to Apple in 1992. (Apple and Microsoft cross-license a bunch of patents related to TrueType, IIRC.)

Links:

IBM/Delphion

US Patent Office

Try this one. Koza got a patent on genetic programming as a whole. The technique of avoiding existing patents is just an interesting corrollary.

Unfortunately, I don't know much about either what AC3 is all about, or what the patents claim, but a quick patent search on delphion showed two patents related to it.

1. Recording medium, recording apparatus and recording method for recording data into recording medium, and reproducing apparatus and reproducing method for reproducing data from recording medium
2. Apparatus and method for reproducing data from recording medium containing data units

So I don't think a cleanroom implementation would help at all. But there could be a way to work around the patents...

Unfortunately, I don't know much about either what AC3 is all about, or what the patents claim, but a quick patent search on delphion showed two patents related to it.

1. Recording medium, recording apparatus and recording method for recording data into recording medium, and reproducing apparatus and reproducing method for reproducing data from recording medium
2. Apparatus and method for reproducing data from recording medium containing data units

So I don't think a cleanroom implementation would help at all. But there could be a way to work around the patents...

Not all that extreme, apparently

Of course, they can go the DMCA route, that would be a natural. But there's another route.

It turns out Macrovision has been patenting not only the techniques that they use, but techniques for defeating them! By patenting ways around their copy protection before its even released, they can legally prevent circumvention devices through civil patent infringement lawsuits.

Here are some of their patents on circumvention of their earlier video stuff:

• Method and apparatus for removing or defeating effects of copy protection signals from a video signal
• Method and apparatus for removing or defeating effects of copy protection signals from a video signal

Of course, they can go the DMCA route, that would be a natural. But there's another route.

It turns out Macrovision has been patenting not only the techniques that they use, but techniques for defeating them! By patenting ways around their copy protection before its even released, they can legally prevent circumvention devices through civil patent infringement lawsuits.

Here are some of their patents on circumvention of their earlier video stuff:

• Method and apparatus for removing or defeating effects of copy protection signals from a video signal
• Method and apparatus for removing or defeating effects of copy protection signals from a video signal

• US05724882
• US05956151
• US06228410

• US05724882
• US05956151
• US06228410

• US05724882
• US05956151
• US06228410