IP: PATENTLY SILLY : Edupage, 25 October 1999

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> In the recent past, Internet advocates worried that government
> censorship and taxation would hamper the Web's growth.  However,
> recent events have shown that the true danger to a democratic
> Internet may be corporate battles over intellectual property.
> While some of these claims are legitimate, many are for functions
> that are and have been widely used on the Web since its
> inception.  Many examples abound of corporations attempting to
> patent ideas or practices that have been around for years.
> Gregory Aharonian, publisher of the Internet Patent News Service,
> says the fault lies with the Patent and Trademark Office, which
> he claims gives out patents too freely.  Some groups, such as the
> World Wide Web Coalition, are fighting back against the issuance
> of broad patents.  One of the coalition's goals is to establish
> open standards that will democratize the Web and make it run more
> smoothly.  The group has already had run-ins with Microsoft,
> Intermind, and other companies over patented ideas and functions
> that it feels should be open standards.  (New Scientist 10/16/99)