Linux Today - Community: A Patent Plan of Action

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:Community: A Patent Plan of Action

Community: A Patent Plan of Action
Feb 5, 2005, 01 :00 UTC (15 Talkback[s]) (3995 reads)
(Other stories by Lane Friesen)

[ 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