Re: code server patent

[Mark Mielke <mark mark mielke cc>]

On Wed, Sep 10, 2003 at 08:23:05PM -0400, Chris Pickett wrote:
> It was filed for in 1991.  At the time there was no prior art as far as 
> he could tell (certainly the U.S. patent office has been known to make 
> mistakes though).  My dad talked to Sun about it in the summer of 1992, 
> and claims that this had an effect on Java as we know it today. 

Perhaps this will be a more direct question:

Why would an open source community, and open source products, *choose*
to make use of a technology protected by a patent, where the apparent
patent holder has made it clear that their first intention is *not* to
allow the technology to be used for free?

As for Java, I suspect that what is being referred to may include the
ability for a Java source file to demand load classes from a jar file
that is downloaded during execution, and loaded during execution.

Other products perform similar tasks. Why should we do your homework
for you? If you want to find somebody to sell the use of your patented
technology too, do your own research. I won't help you. I believe you
are trying to capitalize on the fact that your dad managed to slip a
patent through the patent office, and that in this regard, you remind
me of the executives at SCO. Why do you deserve money for something so
obvious or basic? It is *your* task to prove this. Not ours. You can't
sit back and say 'I don't want to offer more details.' Since you, or your
dad apparently owns the patent, it is up to you, or your dad, to defend it.

If you don't defend it, you've already lost it.

mark

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