Hi all,
I always thought certain patents are bulls..., but this comes pretty close to patenting the "expansion and contraction of biological tissue as a means to acquire bio-chemical energy supply and exhaust exchange"
And it sounds a lot like what Exobox did quite a few years ago.
If only John Edwards was right: Hope is on the way
(OK, for those not "blessed" with US TV coverage, it's from his (vice president hopeful) democratic convention speech)
Michael
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http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d...
Organizing and displaying photographs based on time
Abstract
A technique is provided for organizing and displaying digital photographs based on time. The technique includes inputting data representing a photograph and storing the data as a photograph image file. The technique then identifies the manner in which the photograph image file stores time information (such as date and time of day). For instance, the technique determines whether the time information is digitally encoded in the image file, or whether it is embedded within the image data itself. The technique next includes extracting the time information from the photograph image file using a technique appropriate to the identified manner in which the time information is stored, to produce extracted time information. The photographs are then inserted into a time sequence based on the extracted time information, and presented on a calendar display at a location representative of the chronological placement of the photograph within the time sequence.
On Fri, Jul 30, 2004 at 01:06:02AM -0700, Michael Rueger wrote:
Hi all,
I always thought certain patents are bulls..., but this comes pretty close to patenting the "expansion and contraction of biological tissue as a means to acquire bio-chemical energy supply and exhaust exchange"
And it sounds a lot like what Exobox did quite a few years ago.
Fantastic: They're patenting discovering how the date is stored AND sorting them! Holy shit, that last step is visionary!
Just patenting discovering the date would, quite frankly, take the michael, but the sorting part is the real icing on the cake
Sigh..........
Perhaps those of us living outside the US should begin pressuring our governments to review their international patent agreements. It seems strange that a country would agree to blindly follow another country's patents, no matter how ridiculous.
Are there provisions for this sort of thing in any of the treaties or do we just have to start threatening to ignore US software patents until they regain control of their patent system?
Of course, for all I know, all the other countries are just as bad but we only hear about the US cases... <shrug>
Pretty sure I'm gonna keep on sorting my photos by date though and they can go ahead and sue me for it if they really want.
Julian
Marcin Tustin wrote:
On Fri, Jul 30, 2004 at 01:06:02AM -0700, Michael Rueger wrote:
Hi all,
I always thought certain patents are bulls..., but this comes pretty close to patenting the "expansion and contraction of biological tissue as a means to acquire bio-chemical energy supply and exhaust exchange"
And it sounds a lot like what Exobox did quite a few years ago.
Fantastic: They're patenting discovering how the date is stored AND sorting them! Holy shit, that last step is visionary! Just patenting discovering the date would, quite frankly, take the michael, but the sorting part is the real icing on the cake
On Fri, Jul 30, 2004 at 02:20:32AM -0700, Julian Fitzell wrote:
Are there provisions for this sort of thing in any of the treaties or do we just have to start threatening to ignore US software patents until they regain control of their patent system?
If this patent has been applied for through the US patent office, then only as US patent will be issued, which will only be valid in the US. I am not aware of any treaties between EU countries and the US that they recognise each other's patents.
If this has been applied for through WIPO, then the application will be routed to national and regional offices (that have been requested by the applicant), including the European Patent Office, which has a habit of allowing crazy software patents, in a similar style to the USPTO.
Of course, for all I know, all the other countries are just as bad but we only hear about the US cases... <shrug>
Pretty sure I'm gonna keep on sorting my photos by date though and they can go ahead and sue me for it if they really want.
Of course, in the UK private non-commercial use of patented inventions and "inventions" is permitted
Julian Fitzell julian@beta4.com wrote:
Are there provisions for this sort of thing in any of the treaties or do we just have to start threatening to ignore US software patents until they regain control of their patent system?
I fear you may be too late -- much of the world seems quite happy to freely copy the intellectual property of other countries, including the property of Americans.
Anyway, if you are really into patent reform or IP treaties, here are a few good starting points:
http://www.ccp14.ac.uk/maths/software-patents/software_patent_links.htm l http://lpf.ai.mit.edu/Patents/patents.html http://www.spi.org/primintr.htm
If you go on this important jihad, be prepared to disappear from doing anything else. Farewell and goodluck!
Of course, for all I know, all the other countries are just as bad but we only hear about the US cases... <shrug>
Yes, the whole world is still fumbling around out how to deal sensibly with software. I won't speculate on why people focus their chitchat on the world's biggest economy (oops, I speculated), but you may find the below site interesting. It has a sampling of, by their estimate, the 20,000-30,000 software patents that have been issued by the EPO.
http://swpat.ffii.org/patents/samples/index.en.html
My favorite was the one for conversion between Win95 and WinNT filenames, but don't rely on my taste. Take a perusal and find your very own favorite silly patent!
Michael Rueger michael@squeakland.org wrote:
If only John Edwards was right: Hope is on the way
I know this is OT but I can't resist repeating this. If you are hoping for patent reform, then you might want to shy away from candidates whose funding is mostly from lawyers:
http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/indus.asp?CID=N00002283&cycle=200 4
Anyway, it sounds like you may have found a good contribution for the EFF Patent Busting project:
Lex
On Fri, Jul 30, 2004 at 01:06:02AM -0700, Michael Rueger wrote:
Hi all,
I always thought certain patents are bulls..., but this comes pretty close to patenting the "expansion and contraction of biological tissue as a means to acquire bio-chemical energy supply and exhaust exchange"
And it sounds a lot like what Exobox did quite a few years ago.
You know, I was just considering an IP business model:
1) apply for a patent covering "a method for extracting revenue from intellectual property which doesn't require expenditures for basic research or product development."
2) launch an SCO-style series of lawsuits. Actually, SCO itself would probably be one of the first targets. Offer an RIAA-style amnesty for those who knuckle under to extorti^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H purchase a patent license.
I figure if it works we could get rich while at the same time making life difficult for corporate extortionists. If it doesn't, we at least establish a precedent for putting a stop to this sort of thing.
Yeesh.
Colin
squeak-dev@lists.squeakfoundation.org
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Colin Putney -
Julian Fitzell -
lex＠cc.gatech.edu -
Marcin Tustin -
Michael Rueger