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NCR Patents the Internet
An anonymous reader writes "We all know about NCR's lawsuit against Palm & Handspring, but I haven't seen much press about patent infringements they are claiming against some of the biggest sites on the planet. According to documentation that a friend's company has recently received, their patents protect everything from keyword searching to product categorization. Patents to look for (and filed in 1998) include 6,253,203, 6,169,997, 6,151,601, 6,085,223 and 5,991,791 . IMHO, this is absolutely outrageous and is likely to cause billions in both legal fees and eventual licensing fees (eBay, Amazon and MSFT have already licensed from NCR). How is this not the lead story on every site? every day? Maybe because no one wants to get sued for having an online business."
Wow, for a company thats so great they patented the internet, keyword searches, and secure database transactions its suprising that their stock is only $17.86. I better hop on board before they invent the door knob, or oxygen. The funny thing is I seem to remember using keyword searches well before the Internet, and using secure database transactions. I cant comment on the other patents, but they sound pretty general in terms of E-Commerce, which is what Im getting from looking at these patents, can someone clarify this, I somehow doubt that they are patenting the internet.
All these greedy bottom feeders trying to strong-arm Mom & Pop, inc. into paying up to license some ridicously broad and already common knowledge idea will have to pay me!
BWAHAHAHA AHAHAHAH HAHAHAHAH HAHAHA!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Why don't we patent the process of making stupid patents?
1. Patent the Internet
2. ???
3. PROFIT!
let me patent one and zero, everybody have to pay me huh