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Feds Reject Eolas Browser Plug-In Patent
theodp writes "The USPTO has issued a preliminary decision invalidating Eolas' claim to Web browser technology central to a case against Microsoft, which could save the software giant more than half a billion dollars in damages. If upheld, this also means Microsoft will not be required to make changes that would have crippled IE's ability to work with plug-ins like QuickTime and Flash. Eolas has 60 days to respond to the decision. The USPTO has only invalidated 151 patents out of nearly 4 million patents awarded since 1988."
A consumer oriented decision in this case. Web developers and users everywhere should start clapping.
I'll be the first.
*clap*
clifgriffin > blog
This patent for browser plugins should have been shot down. All browsers (and many other apps) use this idea in some form and even though Eolas seemed to have a soft side for Free browsers it still sets a bad precedent to have bad patents unchallenged.
If you want to download the full pages of a patent from the USPTO, "you must install and use a browser plug-in..."
a cheer is heard from millions of Macromedia Flash developers everywhere
Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
While I'm glad they have invalidated such a bogus patent, I really hate the fact that they have decided to come to Jesus in just the nick of time for Microsoft.
free WMV plugin?
Tetris grandmaster
Super Mario Bros 3 in 11 minutes
I guess the only surprising thing about this is that sometimes money does actually buy good government.
M$ = Bad
Software Patents = Bad
software patents that cost M$ $,$$$,$$$ = ???
The More Knowledge you have the Luckier you Get- J.R. Ewing
Since you put it like that I see your SCO and raise you with my SCUM
MoFscker
about the other 150 invaidated patents...
P No. 1234567 A machine that does nothing
how long until
Maybe I'm missing something.. why is it bad news if a wonderful feature of IE gets to live on?
If George W. Bush is against 'same sex marriage' he should watch a video and learn a new technique like the rest of us.
What on earth does that mean?
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
More like "In the election later this year, ask not what your government can legally do to you... because really the law doesn't apply to them"
Don't get me wrong. I think Eolas is scum. The idea was trivial, and only extended the natural trend that things like mime types and gopher were doing. Plus plug-ins being used in much other software.
But, if Eolas was SCO, they would be suing end users for infringing on their browser technology. They would claim you would owe them $6.99 every time you accessed a page with a plugin. They would be saying that the mozilla developers were theives, and that javascript plugin detection code is unconstitutional.
So it could be a whole lot worse.
Being dyslexic , when I read this I kept wondering
how EBOLA could spread itself with a plugin......
Damn skippy. And it makes coding SO much easier. I currently have 11 browsers installed on one machine, for testing purposes - IE 4 through 6, FireFox, NS 4.8, Opera 5 through 7, Lynx, and Mozilla.
What can I say, I'm a stickler for standards.
-- Karma is for people who think they matter.