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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."
If enforced, these patents could shut down almost every dynamic site on the Internet, including the USPTO
Ahh the wonders of living in Europe. Let's just hope it lasts.
Simon
Then get him good and soused and get him to sign off on a lawsuit against the USPTO. Should be good for five years worth of Slashdot fun.
If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
Well, there goes their chance of finding a lasting, loving relationship.
Well, I think it's a good thing to happen because of the massive irony it introduces. Now, the US Government itself can be sued due to a vague and shitty patent! If this doesn't introduce any sort of patent reform, then someone will need to patent "the act of patenting something".
'Yes, firefox is indeed greater than women. Can women block pops up for you? No. Can Firefox show you naked women? Yes.'
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 =)
Well, I'm sure many slashdotters are quite familiar with doing certain things by hand and probably would agree that it can be kinda fun, but doing /. itself by hand, no, doesn't sound to great imho.
Slashdot, being completely free of any and all dynamic individuals, will be completely immune to anything Epicrealm can throw at it.
Cyde Weys Musings - Scrutinizing the inscrutable
As such, I'm not as concerned about "woe unto all dynamic web sites," but if I managed one that offloads and caches page generation work (i.e., Slashdot, LiveJournal, and probably a lot more) I'd probably be calling my lawyer this morning.
Seriously, mainframes are so cool. And they offer patent protection, too.
In fact, it just the opposite. Any claims that would already be covered would not be allowed in the current patent. So they do not need to pay anything for the other patents referenced since their invention has been found to be different from all of those.
Of course, they do not need to pay anything to reference OLE.
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.
"Fight for lost causes. You may discover they weren't."
From their Claim #1:
1. A computer-implemented method for managing a dynamic Web page generation request to a Web server, said computer-implemented method comprising the steps of:
routing a request from a Web server to a page server, said page server receiving said request and releasing said Web server to process other requests wherein said routing step further includes the steps of:
intercepting said request at said Web server and routing said request to said page server;
processing said request, said processing being performed by said page server while said Web server concurrently processes said other requests; and
dynamically generating a Web page in response to said request, said Web page including data dynamically retrieved from one or more data sources.
Have no fear, I shall patent the word 'said' and venge the Web!
[alk]
I have prior art from 1992.
MIT has prior art from 1994, the open meeting.
Looking for an Information Security student project suggestion?
Try http://dotcrimeManifesto.com/
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.
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??
The Digital Couture Collection
For a company that makes a web product, they have a pretty scarce web presence:
...
www.epicrealm.com == 'under construction'
www.infospinner.com == non existant
the only thing Googling for either name turns up press releases
Why aren't you encrypting your e-mail?
I recently filed for a patent through my company. It wasn't an overly complex invention and I thought I described it very well with a one page email. By the time the lawyers where done with it that one page had turned into 45 pages of text that I hardly understand. There is something wrong with the system when the inventer has a difficult time understanding the invention that is being submitted to the patent office. After seeing how much the company lawyers obfuscated the facts I'm not surprised that the patent office sometimes lets bogus patents through.
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.
--
make install -not war
Is that right after the Boston Baked Beans potluck?
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
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.
All of you guys owe me money. Oh, wait. This is slashdot. Never mind...
See United States Code Title 28, Part IV, Chapter 91, Section 1498. This actually covers the claim procedures when the government makes use of a patent, but if you use this to key some Google searches, you'll get plenty of background on what it is about.
Coming soon:
Tagline: "patent or be sued!"
Object: Patent everything you can and profit from the work of others.
Method of play:
-Everybody starts with venture capital of $100,000.
-As you go around the board you collect cash (via sales cards), Patents (via patents cards)that you can buy if you want, and inventions (via inventions cards).
-sales cards: gives you the option to sell a product if you have the invention card for it.
-patents cards: You buy them If you want. Any patents not bought are put into the "Public domain" pile. A player can only hold a patent card for up to 10 turns, after which they go the the "Public domain" pile.
-invention cards: Are free when you land on the square on the board. If the "invention" is already patented by another player, that other player CAN sue for the cost of the patent. The patent owner can also not reveal that he/she hold that patent cards for up to 10 turns. The player with the patent card can, at the time of his choosing, sue the player with the Invention card for twice the "Sales" that player has received.
Note: If a patent card is bought and another player already has the "Invention card", each place $10000 in a pile and each spin their own USPTO wheel (Patent Wins - Invention wins -settlement). Both wheels must match. If not, each player adds another $5000 to the pile, and spin again. This can continue until one or both players run out of money. If Settlement is the outcome, the pot is split between players.
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
epicRealm pretty much imploded a couple of years ago. I suspect all that remains is a holding company that retains the IPR associated with their patents. (I worked with a couple of the guys that pretty much shut the lights off on their way out of the company -- some of the most brilliant engineers I've had the pleasure of working with).
Another very useful observation about epicRealm is that the letters of its name can be rearranged to spell "Ripe camel." I can't take credit for this observation, however; that honor goes to an anonymous employee who made that physical rearrangement of their official logo on the entrance to their main offices around the time everything started going down the tubes.
You completely missed the point- because you are looking solely at the patent and naught else because you apparently think you know more than someone who WORKED for these people in the past.
You don't know how they accomplished what they did- you couldn't have, dude. It was the patents that covered epicRealm's content delivery network- and it was Squid that was used to accomplish the same. By the way, they're not patenting dynamic page generation per se, only cached thereof- and as such, you'd need a cobbled up Squid or something similar to accomplish it along with a hacked together DNS server network and telemetry transponder network.
I know, I was one of the people working on the modifications they made to accomplish it. As for unlicensing things, you don't get to re-license the stuff if you breach the agreement, they were substantively in breach of the licensing grant given by the GPL in 2000. They continued to distribute systems that included this code throughout at least 2001 and 2002 before apparently ceasing operations (They pulled the signs from the building they were operating out of and their website went black around that timeframe...)
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas