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IBM Sues Groupon Over 1990s Patents Related To Prodigy (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader writes: IBM is pushing big internet companies to pay patent licensing fees in part because IBM invented the Prodigy service, a precursor to the modern web. Yesterday, Big Blue filed a lawsuit against Groupon, saying the company has infringed four IBM patents, including patents 5,796,967 and 7,072,849. IBM inventors working on Prodigy "developed novel methods for presenting applications and advertisements," and "the technological innovations embodied in these patents are fundamental to the efficient communication of internet content," according to the company. The Prodigy patents were filed in 1993 and 1996, but they have "priority dates" stretching back to 1988. "Despite IBM's repeated attempts to negotiate, Groupon refuses to take a license but continues to use IBM's property," IBM lawyers write. IBM says it informed Groupon that it was infringing the '967, '849, and '346 patents as early as 2011. As for the '601 patent, IBM says that Groupon should have been on notice of that once Priceline got sued last year.
Patent 5,796,967 looks like a patent on programs which send page templates and executable code to a client machine to display a dynamic user interface with buttons and text and stuff.
Doesn't this kind of mean they're claiming they've patented the dynamic web in general?
New IBM strategy, perhaps though up by "No Shit Sherlock" the top-secret successor to Watson:
"What is: Laying off our innovation staff and relying on wild-ass patent trolling for profit, Alex?"
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
I miss the IBM that created innovative mainframes, personal computers, floppy disks, commercial laser printers, UPC Codes, type writers, and other great inventions.
Now IBM's plan is to squeeze weak companies like Groupon with questionable patents?
The problem is the so called inventions. They are obvious and natural conclusions. There is no revolutionary idea or inspiration. Patents are to reward and motivate people to develop ideas, implement and produce useful products. These inventions were inevitable. If you could wipe everyone mind in the world and all evidence someone would "invent" it within a week if not days. There is no need to reward these "inventions". It is not revolutionary. It's nothing like the invention of transistors or semiconductors.