Applications Management Engineer Sr (NYC) Next Step Systems US-NY-New York Post A Job | Post A Resume

[ Thanks to Lane Friesen for this submission. ]

A little background:

I published an article on javaboutique in June, 2000 (it is in their archives and was linked on Linux Today as well). I released an e-commerce front end, based in the technique described in the article, as Open Source. I'm now posting updated information, in the form of a pre-release Internet article.

In the previous article, I exploited a new form of storage--it uses the JAVA VM to develop persistence from page to page; I coupled this with a new form of Java-based terminate-and-stay-resident programming. The result is temporary, user-specific, secure Web Memory.

Potentially, it could greatly reduce web congestion, and might serve as the basis for a real-time Internet operating system.

The technique has a bandwidth--if too many people use it, then it will not work for anyone. To protect bandwidth, I applied for a US patent. I now have US Patent 6,636,863 that does this job (to read the text, visit the patent search page and input the patent number). It was a lengthy process, and included a quality review by a number of US Patent Office examiners--hence the gap in time between the original article and this follow-up.

Open Source generally avoids patents--please note that Web Memory has bandwidth, and is not useful without a patent.

There is an interesting aspect to all of this that coupld affect the larger community. It appears that my patent is sufficiently broad that it covers Web Services in general. A terminate-and-stay-resident program happens to be a primitive Web Service; communication with it establishes persistence between web pages--and that is what I patented. Patent claims extend equally to Web Memory and to Web Services.

I could, of course, make the patent completely Open Source, but then I would lose bandwidth protection for Web Memory. It is not my desire to get involved in litigation or to block W3C standards. Surely, the Open Source community can suggest a wise course of action.

In summary,

• Web Memory is secure, client-based, user-specific memory, based in the JAVA VM present in computers, cell phones, Palm Pilots and chips. It works in dotNET as well. The bandwidth for this technique is now protected. Is the method useful to the Open Source community?
• The patent claims appear to be much broader than I intended. Assuming the patent stands up, and the claims truly are as broad as they appear to be, what should be done with this patent?

I would like to solicit the input of the Open Source community in particular. What is a wise course of action that would benefit the Internet end user?

Best regards,

Lane Friesen

Related Stories:
ZDNet: Will Sun's 1600 Patents Suck the Life Out of Linux?(Jan 29, 2005)
eWeek: Defending Open Source(Jan 27, 2005)
JavaBoutique: Open Source Shopping Cart [Part 2](Jul 02, 2000)
JavaBoutique: Open Source Shopping Cart [Part 1](Jul 02, 2000)

Index Mode   |   Flat Mode   |   Thread Mode   |   Thread Flat     Talkback(s) Name  and Date   To be perfectly blunt--    Philip Stephens Feb 5, 2005, 01:28:01     What??    mikeTA Feb 5, 2005, 01:45:13     Sorry, but.........................    Bilbo Feb 5, 2005, 02:21:56     ...anyone ?.    GH Feb 5, 2005, 02:42:46     Re: To be perfectly blunt--    Charles Hixson Feb 5, 2005, 03:01:35     Piror-art,...published 19 months before patent ap    GH Feb 5, 2005, 03:48:00     Re: being blunt    GreyGeek Feb 5, 2005, 04:24:06     Re: To be perfectly blunt--    jp Feb 5, 2005, 14:17:53     Something else that bothers me    Philip Stephens Feb 5, 2005, 17:57:55     Re: Something else that bothers me    Bilbo Feb 5, 2005, 22:59:41     Re: Re: To be perfectly blunt--    bilbo Feb 5, 2005, 23:10:39     How? is the Question    Stomfi Feb 6, 2005, 05:55:31     Re: How? is the Question    Philip Stephens Feb 7, 2005, 06:07:40     I don't think...    Orlando Native Feb 7, 2005, 15:37:56     Here's an option    AlienCZAR Feb 7, 2005, 16:33:42     Home | Search Talkbacks | Customize View    Top of Page   Enter your comments below: * Your Name: * Your Email Address: * Subject: CC: [will also send this talkback to an E-Mail address] * Comments: Tags allowed:<I>,<B> and <U>. See our talkback-policy for more about talkback content. Fields marked with * are required!