Stop using sub-domains, or cough up

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
Date: Thu, 01 Apr 2004 11:32:01 +0100
From: Goncalo <goncalo () mail eunet pt>


Hello.

For IP if you like.

Regards
Goncalo

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http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/36707.html

Stop using sub-domains, or cough up
By Lucy Sherriff

        
The US patent office has awarded Ideaflood a patent for managing sub-domain
names.

In double quick-time, Ideaflood, which describes itself as an intellectual
property (IP) holding company, has started sending letters to hosting
providers in the US. It explained that any further sub-domain service for
customers would need a license, purchased through Ideaflood, The Web Hosting
Industry Review reports.

The requirements for a patent to be awarded are less stringent in the US than
in Europe, but novelty is among them. So what is new in Ideaflood's patent?.
The comments of one alarmed recipient of one of Ideaflood’s letters are
reported on WHIR: “Isn't this general knowledge? How can it be patented?"

John McKenzie, an IP law specialist at UK technology law firm Masons argues
that this patent is symptomatic of a very relaxed patent checking process in
the US.

“Novelty is certainly an issue in this case: there is plenty of prior 
art,” he
says. “The US system is storing up problems for the future. The patent 
office
has a certain responsibility to check applications, but it is passing this
responsibility on to the consumer.”

He said the attitude appears to be that checking the novelty of an application
doesn’t matter, because if there is priot art, someone will find it and
challenge the patent. But this breaks down when patent holders start chasing
small businesses for license fees: the costs of contesting a patent can be
enormous.

McKenzie advises companies which receive a letter asking for license fees that
they should "absolutely respond to them, and ask for a clear explanation of
the precise nature of the alleged infringement. If this patent does cover
something new, the holder still has to demonstrate how the management of
sub-domain names infringes on its IP.” ®

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