As the guy that is the accused infringer in all of this...I can tell you the biggest problem of all is the cost to mount a defense - even when you are totally convinced (as are your peers) that you are in the right. I can understand that software patents are hard to review...so maybe we should back down on granting them. It really has gotten to the point where a lot of patents are granted not because of outright genuity on the part of the inventor - but on who wrote up an application first, no matter how common the concept is. I use the word "common" instead of "simple" because even complex issues may well have common or obvious solutions simply because an experienced developer will always find a way to code something up to achieve the required result.
I went through this exact same thing in 1994 with a patent granted to somebody for putting a logo in software. Strange but true. So it was then claimed my Energizer Bunny screen saver infringed. I had a license to use the bunny, but the patent owner claimed that by having it dash across the screen, I was infringing. After getting a bunch of articles published about the problem, Bruce Lehman issued an executive order to reexam/invalidate the patent. Still, it cost me a pile of dollars and nearly put me out of business. The owner had sent letters to my software distributors accusing them of contributory patent infringement -- so they dropped me and my sales went to zero overnight.
Fortunately for me, both then and now, the patents I've been accused of infringing have been so broad that they hit close to home for many people, so getting attention has not been too difficult. But what about patents with a more narrow scope? Even if 4 out of 5 programmers and dentists agree that there is prior art or the idea is just totally obvious, the guy playing defense doesn't have a chance. The initial legal retainer alone is typically $25-50K or more. The last time I went through this my lawyer said even a slam dunk victory would cost over 100K+ just to go through the motions.
Peter
An author of an early encrypted virtual disk system for DEC RSX11D contacted me. His work (source, docs, binaries) was placed into the public domain and distributed on the SIG tapes.
Glenn Everhart's work can be found here:
ftp://ftp.trailing-edge.com/pub/rsx11freewarev2/rs x79b/312315/
The file vddrv.mac is the source code and the file vddrv.rno is the
Runoff-format documentation.
BTW-- he published an article in the mid '80s in DEC Profesional Magazine. We're still trying to locate that.
Peter
I'm the one under the gun. I greatly appreciate everyone's support and the references being brought up.
Matt's article does indeed seem to be on point. I've looked at it and cannot see much difference between his work and what I've done under Windows.
We are also still trying to locate an article in the DEC Professional Magazine (mid '80s) by Glenn Everhart. He apparently described the complete concepts for a virtual encrypted disk way back then. If anyone can come up with this article, please get in touch at pavritch@pcdynamics.com.
Peter Avritch
PC Dynamics, Inc.
I'm the guy they're coming after. Believe me, I have no intention of giving these guys any money. I'm getting lots of wonderful community support and a bunch of good pior art is being passed along.
One thing we're looking for right now is an article published in the DEC Professional Magazine in the mid '80s by Glenn Everhart. Although he no longer has a copy of his article, he informs me that he fully described his virtual disk encryption system. If anyone has access to this article, please get in touch with me at pavritch@pcdynamics.com - peter
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As the guy that is the accused infringer in all of this...I can tell you the biggest problem of all is the cost to mount a defense - even when you are totally convinced (as are your peers) that you are in the right. I can understand that software patents are hard to review...so maybe we should back down on granting them. It really has gotten to the point where a lot of patents are granted not because of outright genuity on the part of the inventor - but on who wrote up an application first, no matter how common the concept is. I use the word "common" instead of "simple" because even complex issues may well have common or obvious solutions simply because an experienced developer will always find a way to code something up to achieve the required result. I went through this exact same thing in 1994 with a patent granted to somebody for putting a logo in software. Strange but true. So it was then claimed my Energizer Bunny screen saver infringed. I had a license to use the bunny, but the patent owner claimed that by having it dash across the screen, I was infringing. After getting a bunch of articles published about the problem, Bruce Lehman issued an executive order to reexam/invalidate the patent. Still, it cost me a pile of dollars and nearly put me out of business. The owner had sent letters to my software distributors accusing them of contributory patent infringement -- so they dropped me and my sales went to zero overnight. Fortunately for me, both then and now, the patents I've been accused of infringing have been so broad that they hit close to home for many people, so getting attention has not been too difficult. But what about patents with a more narrow scope? Even if 4 out of 5 programmers and dentists agree that there is prior art or the idea is just totally obvious, the guy playing defense doesn't have a chance. The initial legal retainer alone is typically $25-50K or more. The last time I went through this my lawyer said even a slam dunk victory would cost over 100K+ just to go through the motions. Peter
An author of an early encrypted virtual disk system for DEC RSX11D contacted me. His work (source, docs, binaries) was placed into the public domain and distributed on the SIG tapes. Glenn Everhart's work can be found here: ftp://ftp.trailing-edge.com/pub/rsx11freewarev2/rs x79b/312315/
The file vddrv.mac is the source code and the file vddrv.rno is the
Runoff-format documentation.
BTW-- he published an article in the mid '80s in DEC Profesional Magazine. We're still trying to locate that.
Peter
I'm the one under the gun. I greatly appreciate everyone's support and the references being brought up. Matt's article does indeed seem to be on point. I've looked at it and cannot see much difference between his work and what I've done under Windows. We are also still trying to locate an article in the DEC Professional Magazine (mid '80s) by Glenn Everhart. He apparently described the complete concepts for a virtual encrypted disk way back then. If anyone can come up with this article, please get in touch at pavritch@pcdynamics.com. Peter Avritch PC Dynamics, Inc.
I'm the guy they're coming after. Believe me, I have no intention of giving these guys any money. I'm getting lots of wonderful community support and a bunch of good pior art is being passed along.
One thing we're looking for right now is an article published in the DEC Professional Magazine in the mid '80s by Glenn Everhart. Although he no longer has a copy of his article, he informs me that he fully described his virtual disk encryption system. If anyone has access to this article, please get in touch with me at pavritch@pcdynamics.com - peter