The end of Ajax?

Hi, I have read an unbelievable history. Now I have realized how miserable the people are.
And now what???

Some company has patented the Ajax technology. >:(

http://www.aviransplace.com/index.php/archives/2006/02/22/us-grants-patent-for-ajax/

An advance:

U.S. Grants Patent For AJAX

The patent–issued on Valentine’s Day–covers all rich-media technology implementations, including Flash, Flex, Java, Ajax, and XAML, when the rich-media application is accessed on any device over the Internet, according to the patent holders.

That can’t stick, surely!

I don’t see how it would be possible that could stand up in court. Flash itself is prior art, as are countless DHTML techniques and asynchronous communications technologies that existed prior to the patent filing.

Not exactly. He has patented using online applications to create multimedia content.

the present invention relates to the method of providing users with the ability to create rich-media applications via the Internet.

It won’t stand up, but a lot of companies will pay for licensing because that will be cheaper than dragging through court for years.

Quote from: rthrash at Feb 23, 2006, 03:30 PM

I don’t see how it would be possible that could stand up in court. Flash itself is prior art, as are countless DHTML techniques and asynchronous communications technologies that existed prior to the patent filing.

Ironic, isn’t it...

SCO tried to say they had a patent on Linux. Doesn’t appear that it’ll stick!

Eolas tried to say they had a patent on the technology surrounding browser plugins. Didn’t stick either! Had they won, we would have had to change every damn site that uses Acrobat, Flash, Java, and other plugins to work a different way. Talk about a nightmare!

Something relative is the recent issue surrounding document standards for office applications. I don’t know about you but I just don’t understand how anyone can actually believe that the new Microsoft Office XML standard is anything close to being a truly open standard. Do people realize that Microsoft will still have full control over who uses their format...regardless of whether they claim it’s "open"? I personally like the idea of the OpenDocument format simply because it’s truly open-source and is meant to be public domain. This is one of those issues that is just as important as patent disputes over technologies that should be public domain.

I abhor anyone or any company that tries to derail any product or technology that is open-source or public domain just to make a quick buck! It’s insulting! To derail it means that you stifle true innovation. Linux, browser plugins, OpenDocument, AJAX, and other public domain technologies and programs would have never been possible had it not been for the fact that they were open to begin with.

Take MODx for example. The idea of how it’s developed is simple: Money is not made from the development of the product itself, rather money is made from the use of the product meaning that developers can get paid by using it as a tool for developing websites for their clients. That’s how Linux is marketed as well. Redhat, Novell/SUSE, Mandrake, and others...they don’t necessarily get paid for the software they develop and/or distribute. Instead, they get paid to offer support. When you pay for a Linux distro, you’re actually paying for support. Case point, when I purchased my copy of SUSE Linux 10, I got a full year of support from them...which is more or less what I paid for. I did not necessarily pay for a license to use the software. Hell, if I wanted to, I could make a bunch of copies of the CD’s and hand them out to my friends if I wanted to...I just can’t get paid for it is all. There in lies the core difference between the business models of companies that embrace patents and licensing and those who don’t.

Hell, if I wanted to, I could make a bunch of copies of the CD’s and hand them out to my friends if I wanted to...I just can’t get paid for it is all

Yes, you can, you just can’t restrict what they do with it.

For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that you have. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the source code. And you must show them these terms so they know their rights.

Straight from the horse’s ... er gnu’s mouth.

http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html

I don’t think this will work though. If this company able to paented this technology, then there will be a lot more company that can stand up and bring this to the court with 99% assurance that they will win on the court.
From reading all the comments, it seems to me that they are just patenting the way how their business model work, so people won’t create the same business model application to copycat their effort and idea. The only concern that I have, I’m just affraid that the company using this patent to crush all the media rich application provider out there, because of the abstraction on the patent wordng itself. If what everybody have been discussing about is true, it sounds really fishy to me, as the company seems to use the patent to their advantage.

But anyway, I believe it won’t happen, because there are a lot of bigger companies out there that had been developing application using this rich media application concept, and they never thought to patented, which seems to me that they might have thought of this yet, but they realize that it won’t be possible for them to do that. Well whicever it is, I’m hoping that all this ruckuss is not true and hopefully someone will come up with a good explanation about this, especially a response from the company who patented this thing will help to clarify all things.

Sincerely,

A lot of people don’t "get it".

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9075-2051196,00.html

I’ve decided to patent the way my arse swings from right to left that way no one else can copy it

Quote from: bugsmi0 at Mar 15, 2006, 10:16 PM

I’ve decided to patent the way my arse swings from right to left that way no one else can copy it

This whole patenting of existing and widely used technology malarkey is ridiculous. I just hope it wastes no money & time but their own.