Company Claims Patent Over XML

Aviran Mordo writes "News.com reports that a small software developer plans to seek royalties from companies that use XML, the latest example of patent claims embroiling the tech industry. Charlotte, N.C-based Scientigo owns two patents (No. 5,842,213 and No. 6,393,426) covering the transfer of 'data in neutral forms.' These patents, one of which was applied for in 1997, are infringed upon by the data-formatting standard XML, Scientigo executives assert."

Comments

XML predates this patent filing

[jesup]

From http://www.xml.com/pub/a/w3j/s3.paoli.html:

"Microsoft cofounded the XML working group at the W3C in July 96 and actively participated in the definition of the standard."

This was used in IE4.00 for their Channel Definition File (used to schedule "Pull" of channels, an idea that's largely died). I was implementing CDF files at Scala in '96/97. The patent was filed in '97.

Re:USPTO - Again

[charon69]

Quote: I'm going to be generous and assume that these examiners are given a quota that they have to have resolved each week...

You're exactly correct. My ex worked at the USPTO on biomedical patents. Your evaluation was based on how many patents you had processed during the previous week. She estimated that, with proper investigation of all claims, you would have to work almost 60 hours a week on average to finish your quota. At first hire, you're not expected to meet this quota, i.e. they give you time to get "up to speed". But, after they think that enough time has passed, the quota is driven pretty hard. She spoke of coworkers literally being yelled at for not finishing the proper amount of cases. They don't really care if you pass or deny them, just as long as a "processed" stamp is placed on the case.

What's worse, even with these draconian measures, they were still roughly two years behind on processing patent applications.

ASN.1 -- More Prior Art

[engywook]

Seems to me that ASN.1 also would represent some fairly significant prior art.

Quotes from that web site:

• Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1) is a formal language for abstractly describing messages to be exchanged among an extensive range of applications....
• ASN.1 was first standardized in 1984 by the CCITT (International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee, now called ITU-T, International Telecommunication Union - Telecommunication Standardization Sector) under the name "X.409 Recommendation".

Of Grains of Salt and Barratry

[Doc Ruby]

We're always hearing of lawyers who file groundless suits. How often are they prosecuted for barratry? Seems like the barratry officer would be the most popular guy around, except among the lawyers.