Forum OpenACS Development: Looks like our .xql files infringe on this new Microsoft patent

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1: Looks like our .xql files infringe on this new Microsoft patent
Posted by Mark Aufflick on 02/13/04 03:42 AM
http://internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3312091

{Microsoft has been granted United States patent 6,687,897 for "XML script automation."}

According to the application filed by Microsoft, the patent involves "systems, methods and data structures for encompassing scripts written in one or more scripting languages in a single file."

Life imitating art again: "Microsoft Patents Zeroes and Ones" - The Onion 1998 http://www.theonion.com/onion3311/microsoftpatents.html

[All articles referenced from /. article http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/02/12/2349232 ]

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2: Re: Looks like our .xql files infringe on this new Microsoft patent (response to 1)
Posted by Jade Rubick on 02/13/04 05:30 PM
I don't think this affects us. SGML has been around for a long time. The slashdot article seems to make this clear (at least to me).
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3: Re: Looks like our .xql files infringe on this new Microsoft patent (response to 2)
Posted by Tom Jackson on 02/13/04 05:44 PM

A lot of folks read the abstract of the patent instead of the claims. The abstract is written upon application, while the claims are the final protected art. The final claims could be so restrictive as to make the patent almost worthless, but once you have already filed a patent, you usually try to get something through the system.

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4: Re: Looks like our .xql files infringe on this new Microsoft patent (response to 1)
Posted by Don Baccus on 02/13/04 06:21 PM
Many of you know I've been involved in conservation work for a long time.  There's a really great tax-exempt foundation named the "Earth Justice Legal Defense Fund" that handles litigation for all sorts of conservation groups for free.

I think the tech world needs a "Patent Justice Legal Defense Fund" to do the same for Open Source projects (I know that the FSF already does so for GPL infrigement but patents are getting out of hand!)