Neil Balthaser Attempts To Kill The Internet · Thursday February 23, 2006
U.S. Grants Patent For Broad Range Of Internet Rich Applications
A Flash design shop (with an annoying website) in California obtained a patent on February 14th, 2006, which covers nearly all “rich media” delivery technologies. Yes, this includes Flash. Yes, this also includes Ajax, Java, and XAML.
This is highly unpleasant news for designers, programmers, technology companies, and the web in general. It’s now highly possible that anybody using these technologies for Internet development and content delivery will end up having to pay royalties to the patent holder.
“It’s kind of unbelievable that [the patent] has such a wide ranging use because it covers so many technologies,” says Bola Rotibi, a senior analyst at Ovum, an IT advisory firm in London. If the patent is enforced broadly, she says, “anybody who does anything with rich applications will have to pay royalties to the company.”
Seems akin to what Research In Motion is going through right now with the Blackberry, but with far more expensive and universal implications.
One greedy bastard ruins it for everyone. Who could this possibly benefit beside the patent holder? It’s only going to hurt the Internet by increasing costs and barriers to entry for everyone. I’ll say it again: YOU GREEDY BASTARD, NEIL BATHASER.
(link via Zeldman)
UPDATE: Apparently, the asshat has also written an article entitled “Kill HTML before it kills us” in which he pretentiously opines “We must summon the courage to throw away our crutches and rally behind the technologies that will liberate our creativity and open the doors of possibility. Currently, Flash is our best weapon. Drop HTML, pick up Flash, and really learn it — then push it.”
My response? KILL NEIL BALTHASER BEFORE HE KILLS THE INTERNET. Is it legal to say something like that? Well, it’s only a joke…
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Philip Ashlock writes:
Maybe we can blanket his house and business with free copies of Lawrence Lessig’s Free Culture. I’ve read a couple accounts of people dissecting the patent and determining that it really only covers a specific technology and couldn’t be made to act as a much of blanket as he claims. Plus there is so much prior art that it shouldn’t be much of an issue. The really depressing thing isn’t so much that Balthaser got away with the patent but the fact that the USPTO would grant something that is already so ubiquitous. Microsoft also recently filed a patent for displaying numbers in a box
posted Feb 23, 11:20 PM ~ #