This one has all the trappings of a potential debacle. Patent holding company targets Linux, files lawsuits against Red Hat and Novell.
- A patent dating back to 1987 describing a “user interface with multiple workspaces for sharing display system objects.”
- A firm that appears to exist only to be a patent troll.
- Suspicious links to various companies.
- Our “friends” in East Marshall, Texas.
As some superhero once said, “there are evil forces at large in the world.” Where is Super-No-Software-Patent-Man when we need him?
Posted in: PatentsCOMMENTS (6)
Doesn't software patents expire after 17 years? Or something like that?
Marcelo, I believe that under the old law, patents expire 17 years from the date of being granted. So even though the patent's priority date goes back to '87, it may not have been granted until much later. And if there were continuations filed later on, they would share the priority date, but could still have years to go before they expire.
I presume this is all about virtual desktops? If so the Rooms paper predates this by a year.
http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=24056&coll=portal&dl=ACM&CFID=23778768&CFTOKEN=77139655
Anyhow, the original assignee of the "claimed" infringed patent is Xerox - did they sell their patents?
Hmmm. So looking at the paper, the authors were at Xerox at the time and the paper was published in August '86 and the patent filed in March '87 - less than a year from public disclosure.
Ho hum.
This patent will expire December 10, 2008, BUT the owners are almost certainly going after retroactive royalties -- perhaps six years before now, and everything from now until 2008.
Hey Brad,
Thought you might enjoy this:
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/16/1230201&from=rss
Hope things are well,
Manish
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)