[Gllug] [OTish] Embedding objects patent

[Richard Jones]

On Fri, Sep 05, 2003 at 11:18:23AM +0100, Andrew Halliwell wrote:
> And verily, didst "Andrew Black (li)" announce to the hordes:
> > 
> > 
> > > This one would seem specially worrying
> > > http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-web-plugins/2003Aug/0096.html
> > 
> > 
> > Hi
> > Could you explain the background to this?
> 
> In brief, University of california claim they invented web plugins, patented
> it, and licensed it to a company called Eolas. They sued microsoft for
> patent infringement and just recently had it settled out of court, and now,
> the entire interactivity of the web is at risk.
> 
> ('specially flash and non-builtin java)
> 
> Well... At least UC claim they'll license academic/research/individual uses
> for free... So maybe the opensource browsers are safe, seeing as they're
> non-commercial. Opera might have a spot of bother though. :(

It's worth saying too that there's prior art in this case:

http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5063444.html
(see the part about O'Reilly's Global Network Navigator)

GNN derives from an earlier product called "Viola" done by Pei Wei
(who later worked for GNN). The judge ruled this evidence
inadmissable.  Aren't patents fun!

Rich.

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