[huskerlug] We are violating a patent (in fact, probably every website is).]
- From: GreyGeek <jkreps@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: HuskerLug <huskerlug@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 17:38:38 -0600
Even Microsoft may get bit by this one, UNLESS they buy it.... then
everyone else will get bit.
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=180206472&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_News
A patent has been granted to a relatively unknown California Web-design
firm for an invention its creator says covers the design and creation of
most rich-media applications used over the Internet. The patent holder,
Balthaser Online Inc., says it could license nearly any rich-media Internet
application across a broad range of devices and networks.
Potentially tens of thousands of businesses--not only software makers
employing its business processes, but companies offering rich media on
their Web sites--could be subject to licensing fees when they use
rich-media technology over the Internet.
The patent--issued on Valentine's Day--covers all rich-media technology
implementations, including Flash, Flex, Java, Ajax, and XAML, when the
rich-media application is accessed on any device over the Internet,
including desktops, mobile devices, set-top boxes, and video game consoles,
says inventor Neil Balthaser, CEO of Balthaser Online, which he owns with
his father Ken. "You can consider it a pioneering or umbrella patent. The
broader claim is one that basically says that if you got a rich Internet
application, it is covered by this patent."
Rich media is a broad range of interactive digital media that displays
dynamic motion, exploiting enhanced sensory traits such as video, audio,
and animation.
"It's kind of unbelievable that [the patent] has such a wide-ranging use
because it covers so many technologies," says Bola Rotibi, a senior analyst
at Ovum, an IT advisory firm in London. If the patent is enforced broadly,
she says, "Anybody who does anything with rich applications will have to
pay royalties to the company."
That isn't lost on Balthaser and its patent lawyer, Don Pelto of Preston,
Gates, and Ellis. "The considerable value of the 180 patent in the rich
media and rich Internet applications areas cannot be understated," Pelto
said in a statement.
Neil Balthaser, a former VP of strategy for Macromedia, the developer of
the Flash rich-media development environment and player, now owned by
Adobe, says he will most likely sell the patent rather than enforce it
himself. He says he's discussing the sale of the patent to "top-tier
players. I don't want to name them, but they're fairly obvious, the guys
who are investing a lot of money in this rich Internet applications field.
They got a lot invested, or they're going to be investing a lot. Any one of
those companies would definitely benefit by controlling a patent like this,
both defensively and potentially offensively, and the ability to sublicense
it and make some return on their investment."
Rotibi identified Microsoft, Adobe, Google, and Yahoo as having made
significant investments in rich Internet and interactive technology. These
companies, she says, bet that rich Internet media, along with handheld
device proliferation and embedded technology, is the gateway to a market
that sees a convergence between consumer, workplace, and appliance
interactions. "This is a defining market--not unlike the effect the PC had
for Microsoft-- and the bedrock of future software applications," she says.
Balthaser also said he might talk to what he calls third-string companies,
such as retailers that have invested heavily in online business. "They're
making a huge amount of money online and are going to be pouring even more
money into their online sales," he says. "A company like that can very much
benefit from having a leadership position as they transform their site into
a set of rich Internet applications by having a patent."
Balthaser says he began to develop rich-media application processes while
developing Web sites for large corporate clients in the late 1990s using
Macromedia Flash 3. "My mom saw me struggling and one day said, 'Why don't
you figure out a way to bottle up that Balthaser magic and let people
purchase the bottle and do it themselves?' It was one of those whacks on
the side of the head. ... I started to work on an early prototype."
The patent, No. 7,000,180 or 180 for short, is entitled Methods, Systems,
And Processes For The Design And Creation Of Rich-Media Applications Via
The Internet. It contains 83 claims that encompass a wide range of
rich-media Net application methods, systems, and processes.
How broad is the patent? Here's what the patent abstract says it covers: A
host computer, containing processes for creating rich-media applications,
is accessed from a remote user computer system via an Internet connection.
User account information and rich-media component specifications are
uploaded over the Internet for a specific user account. Rich-media
applications are created, deleted, or modified in a user account, with
rich-media components added to, modified in, or deleted from the rich-media
application based on information contained in a user request. After
creation, the rich-media application is viewed or saved on the host
computer system, or downloaded to the user computer system over the
Internet.
Because he began developing the methods and processes more than a half
decade ago, he believes he can prove his invention is novel and nonobvious,
two requirements to get a patent, and can fend off any patent challenges
from potential licensees who might contend the invention is neither new nor
obscure. "Are we ready to defend our patent?" Balthaser asks. "Absolutely.
We're ready to defend it vigorously if we have to. But [litigation is] not
the approach we're taking in terms of licensing."
=========
GreyGeek
=========
Remember, a consumer is a customer with no choice.
DRM 'manages access' in the same way that jail 'manages freedom.'
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