xml-dev - RE: Geoworks and their patent

["Didier PH Martin" <martind@netfolder.com>]

Hi Dave,

Dave said:
Haven't seen this discussed here.

http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,9021,00.html

WAP is based on XML. A hot standard if there every was one. But there seems
to be a bug in the system. How will the Internet route around killer
patents?

Didier replies:
Dave I am confused by the article. On one hand they talk about the patent as
a patent about something that may be associated to style sheets and on the
other hand they talk about WAP which is more a protocol. So, After reading
the article I still do not know what really is the impact:
a) stylesheets are patented by Geowork
b) WML is patented
c) the WAP protocol is patented by Geowork

as we know WAP is only a protocol and has nothing to do with generic user
interface that allows the same application to appear on different displays.
But the article extract below suggests that the pattent is for something
that looks like a style sheet or to possibly WML if that is related to cell
phones.

Sorry, I do not catch what are _really_ the implication from this article.

extract from the article:
One of the patents the company filed during this period – U.S. Patent No.
5,327,529, issued on July 5, 1994 – described a process for designing
generic user interfaces for application programs, and making it possible for
the same application appear on different display devices. The patent gives
the company rights and legal protection in the United States and Japan
through July 5, 2011. That patent, the company believes, applies to a nearly
identical process used in the Wireless Application Protocol for displaying
data on the screens of various devices.

Cheers
Didier PH Martin
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