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Yahoo! Settles Patent Dispute
theodp writes "NCR has settled the lawsuit it brought against Yahoo! last December for infringing on 10 patents related to e-commerce technology. The case, discussed earlier on Slashdot, was especially significant because it involved broad patents covering basic Internet functions. As part of the settlement, Yahoo! is now licensing the technology. Terms of the settlement and licensing agreement were not disclosed."
No. We won't have had enough until this nonsense ends. Having control over a certain implementation is one thing, but to claim IP over "ordering and downloading resources from computerized repositories" is total crap. Basically ordering and downloading were around as were computerized repositories. They just put to things that existed together in one patent to try and control it.
I wish yahoo had some guts and had decided to take it on. The patent system was never meant to uphold these patents. That's the point, and that's why we keep seeing these stories. If no one knows about it, nothing will happen.
I feel that action has to be taken, and that individuals as well as corporations this affects voice their opinion to congress and make them add some type of safeguard since the patent office is grossly handing out dangerous patents.
These are extremely dangerous patents. What if someone took a stove and added a keyboard to it and patented that. The two existed before. Does that mean that one should be able to patent the simple combination of the two?
-gabe
"Terms of the settlement and licensing agreement were not disclosed."
They always say that, eh!?
I'd like to see a law passed where any time anyone settles out of court, the terms have to be disclosed.
Just because...
"computer system for management of resources;"
what would ANY computer system be if it DIDN'T "manage resources"?!
MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
As far as I know when somebody sues you and he/she lost against you then he/she also has to pay (to a certain ammount decided by the court) for your lawyer in many countries. In such a case as this you may not have to pay in advance to your lawyer, because the lawyer knows you can't lose this ridiculous case and he can get his money from the plaintiff.
Why does it not work this way in the USA?
Government cannot make man richer, but it can make him poorer. - Ludwig von Mises
When Thomas Watson worked there they used all sorts of bully tactics to squash the competition.
:
:t ml
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Then the directors were to be thrown in jail but went on a big PR drive and raised money for US flood victims and avoided the slammer.
you can read about that here
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_J._Watson
He joined Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co which he changed to IBM. Watson foresaw the empire building of the Nazis and made a nice business model by having European census data collected by IBM ready for when the Nazi occupation arrived and leasing them Hollerith machines to process it. You didn't think they regimented the lives and deaths millions of people with pencil and paper now did you?
You can't read about that here
http://www.watson.ibm.com/t_j_watson_history.h
But you could try here
http://www.edwinblack.com
These things seem so far away but we are still dealing with the consequences of these actions. I'm sure you all know someone who was in the fighting.
Millions of people were killed, many by virtue of having hole 12 punched in their card.
Census data had been given to previous government who mainly saw value in being able to manage their economy with real numbers. The new landlords used the data for whatever they liked and they liked killing people.
That's why I don't want my biometric data kept somewhere
It might sound daft but imagine in 100 years time when you are on the train to the deathcamp because "your grandfather clearly states his religion as "Jedi" in the 2001 census".
Because 1/4 Juden was all it took.
If that's not related to YRO I don't know what is.
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
In this case, doing the Right Thing(TM) cost more than doing the cheap and easy thing...the fact that they are now licensing these frivolous patents only gives the patents credibility, making it even harder for the little guy to escape.
If they settled and licensed it's because their lawyers told them to. In this country, just about any court case can be won given infinite time and money but when the numbers start looking astonomical, somebody just says "fsck it let's settle - i'm getting tired of this topic". That's not the Right Thing (TM), it's the Same Old Thing (TM): justice for the people who can afford the lawyers. There is no escape for the little guy.
I think the best way to counter stupid laws is by abusing them. Let's start patenting everything that "may"be usd in the future, products that don't exist today because of technicalities, etc... Like: Method to use multiple keys to extend keyboard capabilities (Shift+a = A) Method for finding substrings in a great quantity of text (grep)
how long until
Start taking law courses at night school. Now.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Software patents are bad ideas all around. It will not be long before some idiot is awarded a patent for A + B = C it seems. Maybe it's time for a SEC investigation into the patent office to check for bribery and other criminal actions.
It would be better for companies to defend their products as innovative, not the functions within them that make things work. Disney has done very well with copyright laws instead of resorting to patenting the process of stuffing winnie the poo dolls.
It used to be a company's business model was largely embodied in its personnel. Knowledge in that form had a lot of inertia in setting up and tranferring, so it prevented anyone else from becoming instant competitors. But that way of doing business is largely incompatible with commodity workers, hence the new model.
An added benefit from the company's point of view is that it solves the problem that figured in Neil Stephenson's Snow Crash, workers taking home the knowledge of their jobs. Now it doesn't matter what you know since it's illegal for you to use that knowledge. Of course it sucks if you are a displaced worker and that is the only knowledge that you have.
Bollocks. And where does it say that you have the right to a job - in particular to the same job you've held previously? The primary function of a corporation is to thrive financially and generate wealth for the society. If outsourcing is a realistic alternative, then that's what should be done. If it does not, there'll be soon no jobs for anyone. Better 3 million outsourced jobs so that at least some may stay.
There is no obligation for anyone to start a business. It's voluntary. Jobs are created as a positive side effect but corporations are under no obligation to provide SECURE jobs.
I am 32 and my job is on the line every 6 months and I'm not complaining. If my employer can't afford to pay me, there is no point in complaining. I don't have any expectations that I'll be working here in 24 months - but then again I rather like it that way.
Planning for the inevitable period of unemployment, stashing away money for a bad day and learning new skills outside the scope of my daily job keeps me sharp. I like being sharp, versatile and not getting too comfortable with my life.
I shudder when I think of people who think they have their life worked out at 25. They've got a degree, a secure job, a wife/husband, an idyllic house in suburbia, a car and 2.5 kids who are nice, clean and obedient and love you very, very much. All the goals they set themselves when they were 16. Nothing to look forward to? No unpredictability? No change. No growth. No improvement. Just living without being alive.
BOO! TERRO
People should just quit hiring attornies and start hiring assasins instead. When someone tries to sue you for letting people login to your website, have them killed. Problem solved! Probably cheaper than a lawyer too. What does a typical assasin run these days?