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IP: Patent Absurdity


From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sat, 05 Jan 2002 16:48:31 -0500

From: "Bob Webster" <bob () upperspace com>
To: "dave () farber net" <dave () farber net>
Subject: More Junkmail from Bob!

Patent Absurdity

It's been literally days since I've done any serious whining and complaining about stupid software patents. I'd like to remedy that right here and now. Stupid software patents keep on coming. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, in its infinite wisdom, has given out a patent for something as simple as an electronic greeting card. This is something that anybody with a little programming knowledge can turn out in less than a day. It's simple, obvious, and not very original.

        http://www.bizreport.com/article.php?art_id=2701&width=1024

To further the cause, the USPTO gave an unusually general patent to a Canadian company who is now claiming that the RDF web standard (http://www.w3.org/RDF) is infringing on their monetary liberty.

        http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-8351560.html?tag=lthd

Here's some more on recent software patents.

        http://slashdot.org/search.pl?topic=155

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