[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Eric Hellman's patent application

Chuck,

This patent application was written to protect various aspects of our
linkbaton system. (http://my.linkbaton.com/) Some relevant facts are that:

1. We have not been issued a patent.

2. There is prior art cited in the complete patent application, including
things like Herbert va de Sompel's SFX, the doi system, PubMed's LinkOut
system, and a rather interesting patent awarded to CNET which clearly
limit the scope and applicability of the patent, even if it is granted.

3. The PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) Submission that has been published
and is cited by Chuck is not even a complete application.

You can't draw a lot of conclusions from a patent *application*. There
are certainly many patents that have been *granted* that have claims that,
at first reading, would have very broad applicability (like the BT
hyperlink patent), but when you get right down to examining the claims,
they don't have as much generality as you thought. I have been granted two
patents in the past, and the lawyers have always managed to draft claims
that sound amazingly broad in the initial submission; the patent that is
subsequently granted is usually reasonable. I used to think this was just
a game that the examiners and the patent attorneys played- that you have
to ask for a mile if you want an inch, but now, as I've become older and
more cynical, I'm starting to suspect that the initial claims are done
that way so that the patent attorney can charge you more for responding to
multiple office actions.

I invite anyone with concerns or interest in this to contact me directly.

Eric
--

Eric Hellman, President Openly Informatics, Inc.
eric@openly.com 2 Broad St., 2nd Floor
tel 1-973-509-7800 fax 1-734-468-6216 Bloomfield, NJ 07003
http://www.openly.com/1cate/ 1 Click Access To Everything
____

From: Hamaker, Chuck [mailto:cahamake@email.uncc.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2003 5:41 PM
To: Liblicense-L (E-mail)
Subject: Eric Hellman's patent application


I wonder if anyone could explain this in language I can understand? I'm
not sure what Eric was trying to do with this patent application in 1999.
Maybe Eric will explain?

 Link to Eric Hellman's Patent Pending:
 See
 http://l2.espacenet.com/espacenet/viewer?PN=WO0135279&CY=gb&LG=en&DB=EPD
 Click on the patent number to see the full document.

It seems generic enough to refer to any url parsing/passing variable data
but I'm not sure I understand it at all.

Chuck Hamaker
Associate University Librarian for Collections and Technical Services
Atkins Library
University of North Carolina Charlotte
704 687-2825