When a San Francisco web development company was on February 14 assigned a US patent covering the use of rich-media applications on the Internet, it was always going to be only a matter of time before the self-same Internet exploded with concern and astonishment.
The company in question is Balthaser Online, Inc. of Lafayette, CA, and the patent in question is US 7,000,180 - a patent for "Methods, systems, and processes for the design and creation of rich-media applications via the internet."
The astonishment in question is near-universal. But first let me just back up and recount the facts.
Neil Balthaser, a San Francisco resident, filed his application for this patent on February 9, 2001 (Application No. 9/779,831) as a continuation in part of application No. 09/716460, filed on Nov. 21, 2000, which he abandoned.
The abstract, publicly available at the USPTO, summarizes the patent as follows:
"Rich-media applications are designed and created via the Internet. A host computer system, containing processes for creating rich-media applications, is accessed from a remote user computer system via an Internet connection.
User account information and rich-media component specifications are uploaded via the established Internet connection for a specific user account. Rich-media applications are created, deleted, or modified in a user account via the established Internet connection.
Rich-media components are added to, modified in, or deleted from scenes of a rich-media application based on information contained in user requests.
After creation, the rich-media application is viewed or saved on the host computer system, or downloaded to the user computer system via the established Internet connection. In addition, the host process monitors the available computer and network resources and determines the particular component, scene, and application versions, if multiple versions exist, that most closely match the available resources."
The full application - as one would expect, it is extremely detailed - is here.
I asked a series of Rich-Media experts what they make of this United States Patent, starting with the Founder and CTO of Laszlo Systems, David Temkin.
About Jeremy Geelan Jeremy Geelan is Sr. Vice-President of SYS-CON Media & Events. He is Conference Chair of the AJAXWorld Conference & Expo series, of the 3rd International Virtualization Conference & Expo and founder of Web 2.0 Journal, AJAXWorld Magazine and other major SYS-CON titles. From 2000-6, as first editorial director and then group publisher of SYS-CON Media, he was responsible for the development of all new titles and i-Technology portals for the firm, and regularly represents SYS-CON at conferences and trade shows, speaking to technology audiences both in North America and overseas. He is executive producer and presenter of "Power Panels with Jeremy Geelan" on SYS-CON.TV.
Website Builder wrote:
What's the situation with
this?
QuoteUnquote wrote: [from
the Balthaser Online Inc
press release]
'This new addition to our
patent portfolio is a
pioneering patent and
provides significant
licensing opportunities
for both Balthaser and
our licensees,' stated
Neil Balthaser, Chief
Executive Officer and
Chairman.
'The patent covers all
rich media technology
implementations including
Flash, Flex, Java, Ajax
and XAML and all device
footprints which access
Rich-Media Internet
Applications including
desktops, mobile devices,
set-top boxes and video
game consoles. Balthaser
will be able to provide
licenses for almost any
Rich-Media Internet
Application across a
broad range of devices
and networks.'
Dave Williamson wrote: It
would appear that some of
the earliest flash and
generator work myself and
some of my colleges were
involved in back in the
earliest days of flash
has broken one of the
most ludicrous patent
awards I have heard of.
Neil Balthaser has been
awarded a Patent relating
to the online production
of RIAs using RIAs over a
remote connection.
I find this incredible
given the number of flash
applications that were
around at that time that
must have existed to be
listed as prior art that
would have shown quite
obviously that there was
not a single original
idea, process or product
related to the Balthather
FX/ProFX site.
In the UK there is the
MoonFruit platform for a
start that was live
before the Pro FX site
for a start (here's the
link: http://www.moonfrui
t.com/), not least the
fact that Macromedia's
own ...
Mark Evans wrote: This
either looks like another
U.S. Patent & Trade
Office fiasco and/or a
company setting itself up
to be acquired and put
out of its misery.
In any event, it - and
the patent battle between
NTP and RIM - illustrates
the USPTO should undergo
an extensive review to
assess whether the
granting of patents is
being done in a way that
protects the rights of
investors while still
leaving enough
flexibility to encourage
innovation.
pyrosx wrote: WTF! Hell
of a job the US Patent
Office is doing.
Obviously they are
somewhere near the lower
end of the american
literacy curve. I feel so
embarrassed for the
patent system right now.
I should patent 'A system
of posting free speech
online.' and collect
royalties from all online
publications.
pyrosx wrote: WTF! Hell
of a job the US Patent
Office is doing.
Obviously they are
somewhere near the lower
end of the american
literacy curve. I feel so
embarrassed for the
patent system right now.
I should patent 'A system
of posting free speech
online.' and collect
royalties from all online
publications.
DL Byron wrote: Balthaser
can yell bingo with the
ruling and now will try
to win the megalotto by
hoping some company would
rather license the patent
then fight them.
From Application
Virtualization to Xen, a
round-up of the
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It's only taken Borland
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According to Sean Walsh,
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Brian Stevens, the Chief
Technology Officer and
Vice President of
Engineering of Red Hat,
delivered his
Virtualization Keynote
'The Future of the
Virtual Enterprise' at
SYS-CON's Virtualization
Conference & Expo 2007
West in San Francisco.
'Virtualization is the
hottest subject today,
Red Hat is a trusted
open source provider.
Red Hat offers enterprise
customers a long-term
plan for building
infrastructures on the
quality and innovation of
open source. Combining
open source operating
system platform, Red Hat
Enterprise Linux,
together with
applications, management
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From Application
Virtualization to Xen, a
round-up of the
virtualization themes &
topics being discussed in
NYC June 23-24, 2008 by
the world-class speaker
faculty at the 3rd
International
Virtualization Conference
& Expo being held by
SYS-CON Events in The
Roosevelt Hotel, in
midtown 
It's only taken Borland
two years but it's
finally dumped its
CodeGear tools division,
responsible for Borland's
hereditary JBuilder,
Delphi and C++ Builder
lines as well as its new
web ventures into PHP and
Ruby, said to be used by
7.5 million developers.
Embarcadero Technologies
is b
According to Sean Walsh,
President and CEO of
Skyway Software, 'Our
Skyway Community is
thriving and our members
are very talented. We
truly look forward to
their RIAs submittals and
Skyway Builder extensions
and are excited that all
of the contributions will
benefit the entire Skyway 
Brian Stevens, the Chief
Technology Officer and
Vice President of
Engineering of Red Hat,
delivered his
Virtualization Keynote
'The Future of the
Virtual Enterprise' at
SYS-CON's Virtualization
Conference & Expo 2007
West in San Francisco.
'Virtualization is the
hottest subject today,
Red Hat is a trusted
open source provider.
Red Hat offers enterprise
customers a long-term
plan for building
infrastructures on the
quality and innovation of
open source. Combining
open source operating
system platform, Red Hat
Enterprise Linux,
together with
applications, management
