Patent-busting

**"* P* L* <t*@spamfodder.com>**

Back in late 2002 some messages were posted to this list about the extortion
of Johnny's Seeds by divine, Inc. for alleged patent infringement in the 
area of e-commerce.

Basically, divine filed a patent application in late 1994 for the idea of
using systems to purchase items over the Internet, despite prior art as
early as 1992.

   http://www.hort.net/lists/gardenwriters/nov02/msg00174.html

Johnny's ended up settling in March 2003 because legal fees were going to
be too high to make it worthwhile.

The EFF is now holding a patent-busting contest, with details at

   http://www.eff.org/patent/contest/

They're looking for the worst patents that need to be eliminated because
of prior art and extortion by patent holders.

I've submitted information about divine to the site, but if you know of 
any other companies that have been affected by similar patents please 
either let me know or contact the EFF.  If you have a Web site in the US,
you have a vested interest in the outcome.

Chris

http://www.hort.net/gallery/      3479 online plant photos and growing!
http://www.hort.net/gallery/date/2004-04-25/       The latest additions
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