MESSAGE
| DATE | 2004-04-26 |
| FROM | From: "Inker, Evan"
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout] Group Battling 'Dubious' Software Patents
|
Group Battling 'Dubious' Software Patents
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42816-2004Apr26.html
By May Wong
The Associated Press
Monday, April 26, 2004; 9:04 AM
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- A civil liberties group that has battled the recording
industry and Hollywood over digital rights is now taking aim at what it
considers dubious patents.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation launched a campaign this week to persuade
the government to revoke patents the EFF considers harmful to innovation and
free expression by small businesses or nonprofit organizations.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has seen a surge in software patents
covering general business methods, which critics say are overly broad. Among
them: the online shopping techniques of one-click purchases and electronic
shopping carts.
"Rather than watch the problem get worse, we see it as an opportunity to
show the harms that some of the patents are causing," EFF staff attorney
Wendy Seltzer said
For instance, Seltzer said, dozens of small retailers now face lawsuit
threats for using a virtual shopping cart on their Web sites, and they could
ill afford the legal or licensing fees.
EFF plans to choose what it deems the worst offenders and work to get the
patents re-examined - and rescinded - by the government.
The patent-busting campaign follows an October report from the Federal Trade
Commission addressing questionable patents and recommending, among other
things, better ways to challenge a patent's validity without going to court.
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