Epicrealm Uses Vague Patents to sue Web Sites

An anonymous reader writes "InfoSpinner/epicRealm holds two patents that basically describe every dynamic Web site in existence and is now using them to sue companies like eHarmony. This patent seems to describe a standard web/application server setup. This one describes 'dynamically generating a Web page in response to the request, the Web page including data dynamically retrieved from one or more data sources.' If enforced, these patents could shut down almost every dynamic site on the Internet, including the USPTO."

Comments

It will only get worse

[Nuclear Elephant]

If enforced, these patents could shut down almost every dynamic site on the Internet, including the USPTO

Perhaps that would facilitate some change. It seems that, throughout history, things only got better after they got much worse. Gas prices will probably continue soaring until we have a Boston Gas Party (which will probably be a lot more fun than the Boston Tea Party - at least in the south). The combination of asinine software patents and litigious bastards will most likely continue on too, at least until things get so bad that some as insane as suing the USPTO actually does happen - or until we have our own little patent reform party =)

Re:It will only get worse

[alvinrod]

I absolutely agree. Eventually the weight of legal cases that are self-evident bullshit will break the camel's back. Until that time, however, coorperations won't even be able to cross the street without having someone sue them.

If the big companies in favor of software patents are at all interested in keeping those patents I suggest that they help the system out by getting rid of vague patents that can apply to almost anything, much like the case here.

Judges should also start fining corperations that bring frivilous suits against other companies based on such patents. Offending companies will pay a fine of at least $100,000 as well as paying for the legal fees associated with the case. Money collected will go to education for the poor. Lawyers dumb enough to file said suit will be barred from practicing law in the United States for a period of time no less than 2 years and possibly deported to the sun.

Foreign countries (like China) should blatantly ignore other patents of asshat corperations that practice patent litigation for profit effectively eliminating an oversees business for that company. If they complain, a letter comprised of the 372 ways in which that person/company is a complete asshat/fuckwad/douche/other derogatory name will be sent back to them at their own expense.

In times like these it is society's responsibility to discourage this type of moronic behavior be any means necessary. Maybe once the world has gotten it drilled into the thick skulls of these moronic bufoons that such behavior is frowned upon, we can go back to business as normal. Until such a time, soulless goons like these will continue to take advantage of the system at the expense of everyone else.

Re:It will only get worse

[Rakshasa Taisab]

Actually, gas prices will continue to soar. We are at, or have already passed, peak oil production. The remaining oil reserviors will be more expensive to extract, demand will keep rising as production plumets.

You can have as big a party as you want, it won't solve the problem. About patents?... Dunno... Seems to me those with capital are getting more and more political power as regular people keep watching Idol.

Re:It will only get worse

[HangingChad]

The remaining oil reserviors will be more expensive to extract, demand will keep rising as production plumets.

You are probably right but consider an historical example. In 1850 most homes were lit by whale oil lamps. As the supply of whales dwindled and the price of oil shot up it was only a matter of a few years before alternatives became more economical. Within a few years most homes had switched to smokeless kerosene and the market for whale oil tanked. The economic hammer fell on the whaling industry.

Oil is a little different but already gas prices are motivating a change in consumer car choices (try to buy a hybrid right now) and the auto industry is retooling as fast as they can shift production. That trend will accelerate as gas prices rise and we'll use less, the supplies will increase and the prices will sink again. Although this time the Chinese will likely soak up any extra capacity, so we may see permanently higher gas prices. SUV's didn't make a comeback until gas hit .90 cents a gallon a few years ago.

What should be a bigger concern is our dependence on foreign oil. But if you think that's going to be a priority for an oil family that's good buddies with the Saudi royal family, then you're kidding yourself. Imagine where we could be in alternate energy sources if we'd made that a national priority in the wake of 9-11.

With patents I think we're going to have to reach the wretched extreme before anything changes. Actually, I think we're already there. It doesn't get much more wretched than Epicrealm.

Excited!

[rcbarnes]

I'm frankly excited about the suit. No sitting judge could possibly hope to rule in favor of Epicrealm (at least not without an embarassing overturning by another judge). Every loss by a software-patent holding party weakens the whole idea of software patents, and hopefully expedites the severe restriction/outright end thereof. Kudos to Epicrealm for fighting for the right side, even if it is only accidentally.

Re:Patented.

[tnk1]

I hereby patent any/all form(s) of thought(s). You all owe me $.02 for each thought you have. Gotta love being able to put a patent on something you didn't come up with, especially since it's virtual, and not even physically existent.

You're patenting thinking? You're about to make a lot less money than you think you are.

And no one in the USPTO is going to be the least worried about having to actually pay you... they don't use your product.

Software

[alecks]

Should they be suing the company that made the server software, instead of the client who purchased it? Unless eHarmony developed they're on webserver, in which case, how did they find out??

Unreal Property

[Doc Ruby]

We need a high-profile case of a patent abuser getting a stiff fine. Or even frogmarched to jail for a stint. If I got the County Clerk to hand me a title deed to some "real property", without proper boundaries drawn on it, then went around the countryside demanding rent, there would be hell to pay. The first time, I'd probably just get a spanking from the cops and the District Attorney. After that, I'd be in jail for harrassment. And if the Clerk did that more than once, they'd be fired. If not, their boss would be fired. If not, then the obvious collusion to enable me to harrass and defraud property owners would send them to jail, too. If I were doing this to collect rent on land that no one owned, like a public forest, I'd go to jail the first time around.

Patent abuse is not only a fraud exactly like that scam. It also destroys the fragile system defended only virtually, without the actual land that backs real estate, and makes the whole economy more solid. Patents, the office that issues them and the laws that back them are already pretty stupid and abusable, even when they're administered as carefully as possible - particularly on software. Now it's obvious that they are a tool for interfering with "progress in science and the useful arts", rather than promoting it. Heads must roll before the crooks are running the entire landscape.

EU wants patent infringement to be a crime

[NigelJohnstone]

Wake up,

EU Commission is busy trying to make patent infringment as crime (it was in that Criminialise-all-IP-infingements directive they just released). Not only could they close down the EU Patent office website, they could get them locked up for up to 4 years if this patent existed in Europe.....

The EU Commission really has to be raked in before its too late. How about their power to propose directives is removed. That would be similar to a proper Parliamentary directive where the civil servants don't create the laws.

Re:Blame the Lawyers

[NoOneInParticular]

And how does the studying of patentese further the progression of technology? If a patent cannot be understood by a person skilled in the art, it is 100% useless as a means of disclosure of an invention. As disclosure is the reason we have patent law in the first place, this argument seems to contradict the existence of patents.