Eolas attempts to sue half the internet

Psy

The Imp Queen
aa
Apr 9, 2008
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1,491
Eolas Technologies - the intellectual property holding company which successfully sued Microsoft for the princely sum of $512 million - has filed suit against what appears to be most of the Internet, plus a few miscellaneous companies for good measure.

According to an article over on DownloadSquad, the infamous company - which describes itself as an "Internet technology provider" - has filed suit in Texas this week to "assert the company's intellectual property rights based on two groundbreaking patents, including one that has passed two separate reexaminations at the United States Patent and Trademark Office."

The main patent in the case - number 7,599,985 - is described as a "continuation of the '906 patent" which saw the company gaining a multi-million dollar judgement against Microsoft a few years ago, and covers the idea that websites can "add fully-interactive embedded applications to their online offerings through the use of plug-in [sic] and AJAX web development techniques" and was issued to the company earlier this month.

Source

So basically they are claiming they invented the ability to embed media in HTML (which they did 15 years ago) and only now has their patent been granted which has led to to sue the majority of well-known internet companies.
 

A Boojum Snark

Toraipoddodezain Mazahabado
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Nov 2, 2007
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I thought I remember reading once that to patent something it had to be "non-obvious" or "not the logical progression of existing stuff"... which this fails hard on.
 

Wegason

L3: Member
Aug 16, 2009
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I thought I remember reading once that to patent something it had to be "non-obvious" or "not the logical progression of existing stuff"... which this fails hard on.

That idea was lost long ago, if a new saloon car can have over 2,000 patents for its various bits, then thats evidence that you can patent just about anything.

Look at all the things you buy, chances are its been patented. Everything nowadays seems to be patented, even a coffee cup from Pret is patented.
 

Nineaxis

Quack Doctor
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May 19, 2008
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I thought I remember reading once that to patent something it had to be "non-obvious" or "not the logical progression of existing stuff"... which this fails hard on.

Yeah.





Whoever approved that patent:
A. Is not a web developer
B. Doesn't understand the websites they use
C. Needs to be beaten to death with the pipes the internet is constructed from
 

FlavorRage

L4: Comfortable Member
Oct 12, 2008
197
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Yeah.





Whoever approved that patent:
A. Is not a web developer
B. Doesn't understand the websites they use
C. Needs to be beaten to death with the pipes the internet is constructed from

I think you mean TUBES. :thumbup1: