Kazaa partner Altnet is currently trying to shoulder its way into the Korporate Klan with a variety of ploys including chasing spoofers with a highly questionable patent it now owns. But it’s not doing this to help its client base.

Nor is it alone on the patent bandwaggon. Far from it in fact, as Eric Bangeman points out in his Ars Technica article.

Now read on >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Patent round-up: Microsoft, Eolas, Friendster, and AltnetBy Eric Bangeman, Ars Technica

Patents related to all things computing have been in the news lately, and today we’ve got a trifecta of hot patent action. First up is Friendster, the dating site currently getting a lot of love from investors. The founder of Friendster, Jonathan Abram, has big plans for it, including expanding it into both social and business networking. In a preemptive strike against such a move, owners of LinkedIn (a professional networking/headhunting site) and Tribe.net (personal classifieds and networking) have purchased a "six degrees" patent – a "method and apparatus for constructing a networking database and system" – recently sold at auction for US$700,000. Now, the owners of LinkedIn and Tribe.net are trying to leverage the patent to either force Friendster to license it or shift the focus of the site back towards strictly dating. Will Friendster go along? Right now, given the relative ease of filing for and even obtaining a patent, enforcement threats are now flung around like so much confetti.

"Everyone wants to protect themselves in whatever way they can, so when it comes time to start arguing, they have something," said one person familiar with the patent battle. "Even if your chips aren’t that good, you’ve got to have something or you can’t bluff. On the other hand, that’s not how I would have spent $700,000."

The Six Degrees patent was the first covering networking "systems", but there has still been a blizzard of patent applications covering social networking from start-ups and other players lately, most of which are used as bargaining chips or even for outright intimidation.

Speaking of intimidation, Altnet, a company that uses Kazaa for legal file distrubtion is threatening several companies that spy on file-trading networks with legal action, stating that they have – you guessed it – violated their patent rights.

The cease-and-desist orders are the first legal use of a patent Altnet unveiled last June , under which it claims to hold rights to one of the most common means of identifying files on peer-to-peer networks. That technique, which uses a "hash," or a digital representation of all the information in a file, has even been used by the Recording Industry Association of America in its fight against online copyright infringers.

Altnet’s technology, called TrueNames, enables file sharers to easily identify files, but the market research firms targeted by the cease-and-desist letter are using it to compile and market download data from activity on P2P networks. The other companies which received the letters are heavily involved in monitoring the networks on behalf of the RIAA, trying to catch file traders in the act of sharing music. There exists other P2P software which uses the same technology, but Altnet is choosing to negotiate with those vendors rather than wave patents around. While they deny that they are trying to protect Kazaa users from being sued, the fact that they are in licensing talks with one group while engaging in saber rattling with another is causing many a raised eyebrow.

At least there could be some relief on the horizon from ill-conceived patents and patent enforcement. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has agreed to take another look at a patent awarded to Eolas. Eolas had won US$500 million judgment against Microsoft back in August of this year for infringing on browser plug-in patents. Concerned about the enormous impact that enforcing the patent would have on the Internet (as a patent-compliant IE would no longer be able to render many a site), the W3C fired off a letter to the Patent Office asking them to take another look at the patent:

The W3C’s public call came as part of a larger campaign to identify prior art relevant to the Eolas case. The USPTO responded quickly to the W3C’s request, and on Oct. 30 the office initiated an order for re-examination. On Monday that order was docketed to the patent examiner. "A substantial outcry from a widespread segment of the affected industry has essentially raised a question of patentability with respect to the 906 patent claims," Stephen Kunin, the USPTO’s deputy commissioner for patent examination policy, wrote in his order for re-examination. "This creates an extraordinary situation for which a director-ordered examination is an appropriate remedy."

While the reexamination of the Eolas is only a single step, it is encouraging that the Patent Office has responded quickly to the concerns raised and the widespread interest in the case. If the patent is overturned, it may be the start of a move to reexamine the patent proces. Indeed, one common thread in all of these cases is the Patent Office’s willingness to give out patents in developing fields (such as computer software). Instead of issuing a patent to the first guy to come up with a way to speed up on-line shopping *cough*one-click*cough*, create social networks, or uniquely identify a particular file, the Office needs to look long and hard at how issuing a patent could hinder future technological development and competition.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 15th, 2003 at 4:52 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

HOME

Viewed 5895 times