Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Red Hat Prevails Against Patent Troll Acacia

Posted by Soulskill on from the isn't-it-iconic dept.

walterbyrd writes with news that Red Hat and Novell have won a patent case brought by a subsidiary of Acacia Research Corporation. The company had "accused Red Hat and Novell of infringing three patents that cover a computer-based graphical user interface that spans multiple workplaces, and lets users access icons remotely, according to court documents. A jury in Marshall, Texas, yesterday sided with Red Hat and Novell's defense that the patents were invalid." Red Hat's Michael Cunningham said, "The jury knocked out three invalid patents that were masquerading as a new and important inventions, when they were not. We appreciate the jury's wisdom and remain committed to providing value to our customers, including through our Open Source Assurance program. We also remain stalwart in resisting bogus shakedown tactics."

4 of 89 comments (clear)

  1. Epic patent trolls? by kaptink · · Score: 5, Informative

    Correct me if i'm wrong but these guys look like epic patent trolls - http://www.acaciaresearch.com/pressreleases.htm

    --
    Those who can, do. Those who cannot, sue.
    1. Re:Epic patent trolls? by blitzkrieg3 · · Score: 2, Informative

      I'm pretty sure they got the patent from Xerox, for rooms. The idea was that you use a room and house analogy for your window manager. So all offices applications are in the office room, games in the gaming room, recipes belong in the kitchen, etc. And you had to switch rooms via a door icon, no joke.

  2. Re:Which Patents by PatPending · · Score: 5, Informative
    5,072,412, entitled “User Interface With Multiple Workspaces for Sharing Display System Objects" which issued on December 10, 1991

    5,533,183, entitled “User Interface With Multiple Workspaces for Sharing Display System Objects” which issued on July 2, 1996

    5,394,521, entitled “User Interface With Multiple Workspaces for Sharing Display System Objects” which issued on February 28, 1995

    Source: http://www.groklaw.net/pdf/IPvRH-1.pdf

    --
    What one fool can do, another can. (Ancient Simian Proverb)
  3. Re:yay! by pcolaman · · Score: 2, Informative

    Please tell me you are not mistaking this for Marshall the college. Not really aware of Football being a major thing that Marshall, TX is known for. It is known as one of the places where the Civil Rights movement centered out of in the south, but I'm not aware of it being particularly noted as a great high school football school, in terms of other Texas High Schools. A quick search online shows that most sites that rank high schools in their classification (4A) shows them to be a middle of the pack football school.