Eolas Sues World + Dog For AJAX Patent 647
helfrich9000 writes "Eolas has filed suit against 23 companies (guess where), including Adobe, Amazon.com, Apple, eBay, Google, Yahoo!, JPMorgan, and Playboy. At issue are a pair of patents (US 7,599,985 and US 5,838,906), one of which (the '906) was successfully used in litigation against Microsoft Corp for a $565 million judgement. Says Dr. Michael D. Doyle, chairman of Eolas, 'We developed these technologies over 15 years ago and demonstrated them widely, years before the marketplace had heard of interactive applications embedded in Web pages tapping into powerful remote resources. Profiting from someone else's innovation without payment is fundamentally unfair. All we want is what's fair.'"
All we want is what's fair (Score:2, Funny)
Oh, and money. Lots of money. In fact, forget the fair thing, and give us the money.
Sadly they didn't sue Slashdot... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:More power to 'em (Score:3, Funny)
Adobe, Amazon.com, Apple, eBay, Google, Yahoo!, JPMorgan, and Playboy are all probably really saddened by the fact that they didn't come up with this themselves quicker.
I'm not going to stand by and let you insult Playboy by lumping them in with the likes of Adobe, Apple and JPMorgan ;)
Re:laughable (Score:0, Funny)
Just the mention of socialist ideas is enough to cause a conservative to lose his erection during the Ayn Rand circle-jerk. Then he has to eat the biscuit.
US 7,599,985 is the friggin internet!! (Score:2, Funny)
What a sad, pathetic joke we in the USA are subjecting the world to when a patent such as "US 7,599,985 " exists.
In short, it is basically defining the interaction of a computer with a server.
This is exactly the same as if I were able to patent the idea of 'placing one foot in front of the other in order to achieve motion'
Re:Bullshit (Score:3, Funny)
Re:laughable (Score:5, Funny)
Funny how every one of those things you listed with the exception of the military can be done cheaper and more effectively by the private sector.
DOT = employees getting paid above market wages to hold up "stop/slow" signs.
City water utility = Meter readers getting paid above market wages to drive a car and punch numbers into a PDA
FDA = Yeah, that's worked out real well [fda.gov]. I trust the UL much more than I trust the FDA. I've yet to have a UL approved appliance burn my house down. I have had FDA approved food put me in the hospital.
The internet, yeah it was partially developed by DOD and then properly turned over to the private sector when the commercial uses become apparent. You think we would have seen the rush of online innovation if the government was still in charge?
Yes, because history has taught us time and again that when left to their own accords, the private industry can police itself.
Re:laughable (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I made a webapp with a tcl/tk browser add-on in (Score:2, Funny)
Congratulations, you now owe them $20M, you should have kept quiet about it. And when they threaten to begin discovery and reveal all of your pr0n IP history in court and to your wife you will settle out of court. Dirty companies with dirty lawyers play dirty games.
Re:laughable (Score:1, Funny)
While on the subject of Maslow, I could argue that a good chunk of the slashdot community can't even meet the most basic needs of his pyramid. According to the wiki page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs), sex is on the bottom row. Right in there with pooping.
Re:laughable (Score:5, Funny)
Of course I feel an obligation, which is why I donate money to help those in need. We libertarians tend to draw the line at enforcement, though, believing that in a truly civil society force is only used to stop those who would use force on others. It's called the principle of non-initiation of force.
A truly civil society can only exist when enough people of goodwill make free choices to help others. The whole struggle should be in the convincing of others to do good, rather than in expecting a strong-arm government to make us good. Enforcement of such has never worked, and the more you enforce, the less civil the society becomes.