6 ms·

The patents in question: http://www.google.com/patents/US5978791 http://www.google.com/patents/US5978791 http://www.google.com/patents/US6415280 http://www.go

• turshija 14y ago
  ... depend on all of the data in the data items and only on the data in the data item ... WUUUUT?
  • jc4p 14y ago
    An md5sum
    • VMG 14y ago
      git uses SHA1
      • apotheon 14y ago
        Well . . . use a salt and it seems this patent is trivially bypassed. Voila!
        • jc4p 14y ago
          Or use the contents of the files AND Linus's email. Then it's not just the contents of the files!
• wbond 14y ago
  The titles of the patents: 5978791: Data Processing System Using Substantially Unique Identifiers to Identify Data Items, Whereby Data Items Have the Same Identifiers. 6415280: Identifying and Requesting Data in Network Using Identifiers Which Are Based On Contents of Data. 6928442: Enforcement and Policing of Licensed Content Using Content-based Identifiers. 7802310: Controlling Access to Data in a Data Processing System. 7945539: Distributing and Accessing Data in a Data Processing System. 7945544: Similarity-Based Access Control of Data in a Data Processing System. 7949662: De-duplication of Data in a Data Processing System. 8001096: Computer File System Using Content-Dependent File Identifiers. 8099420: Accessing Data in a Data Processing System.
  • api 14y ago
    It would appear, based on many incidents underway at the moment, that the software patent apocalypse is beginning. All software infringes something, so it should get interesting. Hopefully the absurdity will stink so badly that even the U.S. congress will do something.
    • genwin 14y ago
      Your congresspeople know this is a critical issue for you. They will be happy to take your campaign contribution. They're studying this issue closely. Study results expected in March 2057.
    • russell 14y ago
      And you think that a Congress that lets the economy slide towards depression in favor of the rich at the expense of the rest of us really gives a damn about patent reform. Except for what their handlers want. Apologies. This comment is not worthy of a HN regular, but I am feeling really cranky these days.
      • lotu 14y ago
        Many people in large technology companies are threatened by software patentes, and spend lots of time and money defending and preparing to defend against them. Were these people (who are among the richest in the world) left out of the controlling congress conspiracy club?
• fla 14y ago
  8099420: Accessing Data in a Data Processing System. That sounds more like a joke. Does it really pretend to have invented the IDs?
• CrankyBear 14y ago
  Yet more proof, as if were needed, that software patents are BS.
• agilord 14y ago
  "All your data processing codes are belong to us." Unfortunately, this is not as funny as it should be.
• rorrr 14y ago
  Looks like most of these patents can be killed by prior art. The first one is hashing, for instance.
  • noselasd 14y ago
    As mentioned elsewhere, a patent describes a system as a whole, and just because individual steps in a patent is/was in wide use elsewhere doesn't necessarily mean anything. Saying that this patent is invalid because it uses hashing would be similar to invalidating every patent describing a device made of iron because iron was invented before.
• rademi 14y ago
  None of these patents were original at the time they were adopted -- they all have obvious prior art. Someone should take away Level 3's patent card. And PersonalWeb really ought to be liable for abuse of process.
• logn 14y ago
  I'd recommend that no one ever click on patents to read them. If you do your company, if found guilty in court of infringement, faces 3x higher damages (at least in the US). When I worked at SAP, the only sites blocked by our proxy were patent sites.