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| Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, May 10 2013 @ 03:54 PM EDT |
Roughly five years ago I was emailed a cease and desist for patent
infringement. AFAIK, the first time I read the email was a week ago.
In 1991, at a professional conference in the field, I outlined a proposal for
software that does everything laid out in the patent, except that instead of
using the Internet, it used either FidoNet, or Fidonet technology.
In 1996, I released the specifications for software that did everything
described in the patent, except communicating with other computers.
In 1997, I released a spreadsheet that incorporated most of the specs from the
1996 software.(Technically, vaporware.)
In 1997, the patent owner obtained the spreadsheet.
In 2001, the patent owner requested, and was given a list of refinements to the
1995 software specs.(The spreadsheets were not vaporware. The stand alone
program was vaporware.)
In 2003, I released an updated version of the spreadsheet. One that could, if
one had a powerful enough system, do everything described by, and intended
to be covered by the patent, but scan the required data, and communicate with
other computers. This was released before the patent was granted. It might
have been released before the patent was applied for.( I was abusng a
spreadsheet program as a database.)
The 2003 web implementation of the patent included the refinements from
my 2001 software specifications.
But I am the person allegedly infringing upon the 'invention'.
Care to explain why I should even consider paying royalties for the patent?[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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