[Opensim-dev] personal plea on patents

Wed Feb 3 23:32:28 UTC 2010

Guys, I've said this before.

DO NOT POST PATENTS ON THIS MAILING LIST.
AVOID LOOKING AT THEM IF POSSIBLE.

Everyone who looks at them is now liable for wilful infringement if they submit code around that area after looking at it.

Regards,

Adam

From: opensim-dev-bounces at lists.berlios.de [mailto:opensim-dev-bounces at lists.berlios.de] On Behalf Of Mark Malewski
Sent: Wednesday, 3 February 2010 1:09 PM
To: opensim-dev at lists.berlios.de
Subject: Re: [Opensim-dev] personal plea on patents

What exactly is going on?

Did someone apply for a patent?  Are ANY patents pending?  If so, please let us know what patents are currently pending, so we can at least look them over and contest them.

I've had virtual worlds running since 1991, with 3D shopping malls, online e-commerce, etc.

I'd really like to see if anyone is currently attempting to put a patent through, so we can at least work on contesting/disputing the validity of any pending patents.  Software patents are a bad idea, and it really hurts the creativity/innovation and development of 3D platforms.

If anyone is aware of ANY pending patents, please let me know and please post the pending patent numbers to this forum.  I'd be interested in working with legal counsel to dispute the validity of any pending patents, or at least begin work on shooting the patents down before they are approved.

It's much easier to shoot them down (before they get approved), so please post any information that you may have about any pending patents.

Are you referring to the patent that was filed by IBM?

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20090300582.pdf

Is this the patent we are talking about?

There are only THREE types of patents (Design, Utility, and Plant).  I'm assuming that we're talking about "Design" patents, and in order for a patent to be "valid" it must be a NEW, or ORIGINAL idea.

Design patents may be granted to anyone who invents a new, ORIGINAL, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture; and

There is nothing new, and nothing original.  If IBM is looking to use the OpenSim Infrastructure as a basis for their patent, or even attempting to claim that the things we discuss (or implement/plan/roll out/develop) are part of IBM's "design" then it's certainly not new, or original.

I doubt that the patent application is valid, and I'll need to skim over their patent application, and see if we need to work on appealing the patent application.

Companies attempt to file patents (on other people's ideas) simply as a way to make money (by litigation) in hopes to stifle innovation, development, creativity and an attempt to kill off any competition.

As far as IBM's patent idea, it doesn't hold any water.  It's not new, and it's not original.  I'd developed platforms identical to that as early as 1991.  I'd been doing synchronization of offline 3D virtual content for 3D shoppings malls since 1991 and developed a platform for the U.S. Army's Battlefield Visualization program using synchronization of offline content (for 3D Battlefield Visualization) as early as 1994.

Even civilian projects like Active Worlds had been doing that (as part of their browser cache) as early as 1995/1996 (about 5+ years after work that I had done).

So I hardly believe that IBM's silly patent application really holds much water.  I'm willing to file an opposition to IBM's patent, if there are any other pending patent applications out there, then please let me know.  I'd be more than happy to help "nip" this in the butt before some silly greedy business manager (or company) attempts to try and file a patent and kill off the creativity, innovation, and development of 3D platforms.

James, I completely agree with your post, and we really do need to work on contesting this patent (if we're referring to the pending IBM patent).  Prior art and prior work is there.  There is nothing new or unique in IBM's pending patent application (if that is what this whole discussion is about).  If there are ANY pending patents out there, please post the patent application numbers here in this forum, and we'll begin to address the issues (legally).

I'd rather bring this silly patent nonsense to an end now, before this gets out of hand.  Looks like IBM is attempting to do a "smash and grab" by filling out a silly patent application to try and hinder widespread use, or development of advanced 3D platform.

It seems that managers ride on the coat tails of others and then attempt to go for the "get rich quick by grabbing the IP quicker" routine.  This is nothing but hogwash, and it's really sad to see companies (and individuals) that stoop to this kind of level.

                Mark

On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 2:05 PM, James Stallings II <james.stallings at gmail.com<mailto:james.stallings at gmail.com>> wrote:
Some history may be in order here; I wont drag you through each and every phase of virtual world development, but I can tell you that googling 'virtual worlds' turns up prior art for almost everything we do (or will do) with opensim, dating back to the late 1970s.

It may not be widely known by either the patent office (do they even research such things anymore?), or the 'get rich quick by grabbing the IP quicker' set, but the prior art is there.

Cheers
James

On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 1:42 PM, Robert A. Knop Jr. <rknop at pobox.com<mailto:rknop at pobox.com>> wrote:
On Wed, Feb 03, 2010 at 12:23:40PM -0700, Frank Nichols wrote:
Ultimately, we need to kill software patents for once and for all.
Alas, chances of that happening soon are slim, so everybody has to be
aware of the existence of them.

--
--Rob Knop
 E-mail:    rknop at pobox.com<mailto:rknop at pobox.com>
 Home Page: http://www.pobox.com/~rknop/
 Blog:      http://www.sonic.net/~rknop/blog/
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