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Around 1998 I built an open source application on the Newton called Hemlock which loaded, parsed, and used Sherlock search templates to grab data from internet
by SeanLuke 4y ago
Around 1998 I built an open source application on the Newton called Hemlock which loaded, parsed, and used Sherlock search templates to grab data from internet sites just like Sherlock did. Sherlock can either search from the internet or can search from files. The Newton didn't have a filesystem: it had a searchable database system. One of the things I was working on, and proposed on Usenet, was to search both the internet and the Newton database system in one shot, though I eventually didn't do it as the Newton already had a great search tool for the database system built in.
About 15 years later I walked into my lab and got served with a subpoena by Samsung's legal team for deposition. Everybody's lawyers suddenly wanted to talk to me. They dug through my postings, my software, old files on my laptop, even the old Newtons in my office. Between Apple, Samsung, and the very helpful SFLC legal team, the whole thing was like being dropped into a tank of very nice sharks.
One of the patents Apple was going after Samsung for was 8,086,604, the "604" patent. Hemlock, and my proposals on the Usenet for improving it, predated this patent by quite a bit and easily covered most of its claims. Eventually Samsung decided to argue that they didn't violate the patent, rather than argue that it was invalid. That turned out to be the right decision (they won). But had they gone the invalidation route, I'd likely have found myself on the stand in SF. That patent is still live, and my prior art is still ready to invalidate it.
- alfiedotwtf 4y ago> SeanLuke That name rang a bell so I had to look you up. I just have to say, I love your book!
- SeanLuke 4y agoThank you. Wait, which one?
- stardek 4y agoAfter the other user mentioned your name I thought it sounded familiar too so I looked you up. I used MASON quite a bit in the past, thanks for all your work on that!
- alfiedotwtf 4y agoEssentials of Metaheuristics. That was one of my first intros to optimisation and opened up my eyes to the field!
- matheusmoreira 4y ago> That patent is still live, and my prior art is still ready to invalidate it. I wonder how many other invalid patents are out there. It boggles my mind that the patent office will grant anyone a patent without even checking for prior art.
- skavi 4y agoIt took a team of very expensive lawyers to find that prior art on some old forum. I don't think the patent office has those kinds of resources for each application.
- matheusmoreira 4y agoIf they don't have the resources or knowledge necessary to establish prior art, then they do not have the competence to grant patents. Their negligence enabled the illicit enrichment of monopolists and dragged open source developers needlessly into legal procedures, costing them time and possibly money in legal fees.
- pkaye 4y agoThat is why I think every patent submittal should come with a bounty to be paid to anyone who identifies prior art to invalidate it. The bounty is setup using a bond or something similar. If no prior art is identified within a reasonable time (say 2 years), the bond is reverted back to the submitter.