News Paul Allen sues over patents

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/bits/2010/08/30/paul-allen-sues-over-patent/1

 

if he has registered a patent and never done anything with it, then i think he is a patent troll

 

this will backfire as he has never used them, and has not said anything for 10 years.

 

This is Bit-Tech's 'latest news'? Must be a slow weekend, this was on the BBC website 48 hours ago!!

 

I wonder how many patents he actually has. And if any of them are worded "*general activity* BUT ON THE INTERNETS!!!"?

Bit-Tech don't work weekends. Are you volunteering to pay someone to stay in the office?

 

Oh dear me....

Is he down to his last Billion or something....?

Of course acting like a cxxx, is how people get rich in the first place.....

 

US patent 6034652 : "Attention manager for occupying the peripheral attention of a person in the vicinity of a display device". View Patent Landscape Map.
US patent 6788314 : "Attention manager for occupying the peripheral attention of a person in the vicinity of a display device (continuation)". View Patent Landscape Map.
US patent 6263507 : "Browser for use in navigating a body of information, with particular application to browsing information represented by audiovisual data". View Patent Landscape Map.
US patent 6757682 : "Alerting users to items of current interest". View Patent Landscape Map.

 

patent system need changing

 

Maybe he needs the money for a new beard trimmer.

 

How much more general can it get?

"Application for viewing colours" <- I should totaly file that patent.

 

Right on!

 

@Mraedis

If you look at the actual patents then some resolve to lookups against tables.
US patent 675768
person enquires about product A, system looks to see if company is interested in product A, if so system alerts company.

if this is a patentable idea then a heck of a lot of code would have to be re-written

 

This guy is still alive? I thought Patrick Bateman killed him with an axe to the face years ago...





I'll be leaving now

 

Generalisation is the whole point with writing patents, you make a first claime such as:

1, A device for entering text into a computer

Then add:

2, As point 1, plus using buttons
3, As points 1 and 2, buttons having letters on
4, as points 1, 2 and 3 buttons also having numbers

and so it goes on, narrowing things down each time, that way if anyone tries to develop a new method of entering text that doesn't use lettered or number buttons, or buttons at all, they still get caught by the first very broad claim.

It sucks to have it done that way but such is the nature of patent law (something which I am, by no means an expert in)

 

I'll stay for free. Though you must never ask what happens at the weekends. NEVER.

 

How hard is it to write a small article and update the site? Hell, I'd do it for free.

 

But they work a bank holiday - where's the logic in that?

 

he definitely sounds like a patent troll just like the guy who is suing clothing companies for using the phrase "yo mamma"

 

Is it just me or are 99.9% of software patents just pointless?

If i could go back in time i should make a patent, search engine with the ability to create lists of a specific criterea's based on the input entered by the user. I'd be rich!

 

Software patents should not exist. Programming is basically a derivate of mathemathics, and should not be able to be patented.

"Patent Absurdity" is a short film about software patents (you can watch it via patentabsurdity.com if you want) has a nice segment of a guy explaining the patented eHarmony "match-making" mathemathical formula. It's basically a simple matrix... which now, in essence (luckily only in the USA ), is patented.

The patent system was implemented to encourage innovation, but nowadays - and especially in regards to software patents - it's mostly used by patent trolls trying to make some easy money. It needs a serious overhaul (and software patents need to be forbidden/never implemented in the EU) if we want to get out of this ridiculous situation.