Delivered-To: dfarber+@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 11:28:49 -0500
From: Daniel Weitzner <djweitzner@xxxxxx>
Subject: W3C files at the US Patent & Trademark Office regarding the 'Eolas'
patent]
To: Dave Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
[for IP if you like - danny]
World Wide Web Consortium Presents US Patent Office with Evidence
Invalidating Eolas Patent
http://www.w3.org -- 29 October 2003 -- The World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C), the global standard-setting body for the Web, has presented the
United States Patent and Trademark Office with prior art establishing that
US Patent No. 5,838,906 (the '906 patent) is invalid and should therefore
be re-examined in order to eliminate this unjustified impediment to the
operation of the Web. The W3C is urging US Under Secretary of Commerce for
Intellectual Property James E. Rogan to initiate a re-examination of the
patent because the critical prior art was neither considered at the time
the patent was initially examined and granted, nor during recent patent
infringement litigation.
In an unprecedented step, Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of
the Web, sent a letter today to Under Secretary Rogan requesting that his
office reinvestigate the matter. "W3C urges the USPTO to initiate a
reexamination of the '906 patent in order to prevent substantial economic
and technical damage to the operation of World Wide Web," stated
Berners-Lee. "The impact of this patent will be felt not only by those who
are alleged to directly infringe, but all whose web pages and application
rely on the stable, standards-based operation of browsers threatened by
this patent. In many cases, those who will be forced to incur the cost of
modifying Web pages or software applications do not even themselves
infringe the patent - assuming it is even valid."
Letter Urging Action: http://www.w3.org/2003/10/27-rogan.html
Detailed Filing: http://www.w3.org/2003/10/301-filing.html
--
Daniel J. Weitzner +1.617.253.8036 (MIT)
World Wide Web Consortium +1.202.364.4750 (DC)
Technology & Society Domain Leader <djweitzner@xxxxxx>
http://www.w3.org/People/Weitzner.html