Aral Balkan

According to The Register, the US patent office has nullified Eolas' patent covering the embedding of plug-ins into web pages. This should come as a breath of relief to the Flash community, as proposed changes to Internet Explorer to make it comply with the patent would have prompted the modification of any site with Flash content.

The article states that Eolas Technologies has 60 days to appeal the ruling.

Hopefully this move signals a larger one towards the eventual nullification of software patents in general. As a creator and owner of intellectual property, I should be the first to support sotware patents but instead, as many software developers do, I see them rather as dangerous roadblocks to the evolution and progress of scientific knowledge and a threat to the future of the Internet.

Comments

• I'm a little concerned that no one is paying attention to this case anymore. I'm a software developer and recently a client of the company I work for asked us to review this case. What I learned from the whole thing is that the patent process in the US with regards to software in particular is broken.
  
  With the matter apparently headed toward a reasonable resolution, people have stopped following the case. Outside the lens of public scrutiny, Eolas and the unwitting PTO are working surreptitiously to revive the patent most people thought was long buried. In the process, Eolas is presenting arguments that both fly in the face of common sense and contradict key positions they took during trial. Worse yet, the PTO seems to be buying it.
  
  The creation of patent holding companies whose business plans are based on acquiring and licensing patents will surely lead to more cases of litigation over alleged infringements. This is not good for the industry and I certainly hope the USPTO sees this as an opportunity to send a message and address the growing call for patent reform. More and more people in our industry are becoming very concerned about the entire patent process.
  
  You might find the results of our investigation interesting. Check it out at http://www.iticentral.com/906Full.html
  

  by cray15 on 2005-01-31 16:44:40

• By the way... invalidating a patent is a three stage process and the patent is still being reviewed. So, The Register's claim that the "US Patent Office has nullified Eolas' patent" isn't quite true just yet.
  
  

  by cray15 on 2005-01-31 16:48:58

• Niche article.

  by Law News on 2008-08-14 09:01:36