Re: [Beowulf] How do I work around this patent?

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:46:38 -0700

Jeremy,  

I have not read patent 7181690 and am not a patent attorney, however, there may be some prior art for the first claim.  Maybe the patent examiner(s) missed prior art or the authors missed prior art.  Should you find either, you can easily use Rule 501 and do a "passive citation" against the patent for free.  You can do this as yourself or someone else can do it anonymously for you by either sending copies to the USPTO and the patent holder (patentee) *or* by alternatively sending two copies to the USPTO.  

Better would be to use Rule 510 or Rule 902 and get a reexamination of the patent, which is a stronger strategy but likely requires some funds for a patent attorney to make the strongest possible case.  Rule 510 is for one person/entity requesting examination (ex parte = one party) and Rule 902 (inter partes = two or more parties).  

If I were you and really focused on this, I'd place some time bets and take a quick peek at what my pals at Chaco Communications (1994-1996) did with their "Pueblo" client/server, and in particular their early work on the technology.  There were some VRML and text-only "MUD"-like implementations there.  I remember they customized it for the "Hello Kitty" people in Japan.  

I'd also place time bets on 1980s games and look at the multiplayer aspects of the older games, like Peter Langston's "empire".  Stuff like xconq, Xtrek, and what happened when X Windows came out.  I can't remember accurately if any of the Rogue v3.6 derivatives were multiplayer like that.  Were either srogue or urogue multiplayer? 

Also, there maybe be some prior art by the US military or its contractors in wargaming simulations or "distributed object" implementations.
These ideas might be irrelevant or a starting point.  I started reading glass insulator patents when I was 7 or 8 years old.  I wouldn't put too much stock into a patent which has been granted but not ever challenged.  Until they survive a challenge, I tend to view them as just publications, and that the authors published via the patent system. 

If you need general patent orientation, a good starting point is David Pressman's book "Patent It Yourself" on Nolo Press -- $28.99 for download at http://nolo.com

   douglas  

Chaco :: http://www.chaco.com/company/history/index.html
Pueblo client :: http://download.uni-hd.de/ftp/pub/net/winsock/winsock-l/WindowsNT/Mud/Pblo32.txt
Pueblo client :: http://pueblo.sourceforge.net/pueblo/source.php
MUD/MUSH/MOO :: http://soa.sys-con.com/node/3
Empire :: http://members.chello.at/theodor.lauppert/games/empire.htm
Netrek :: http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~netrek/history/History.html
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On Sep 22, 2009, Jeremy Baker <jello...@gmail.com> wrote:

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