[ic] divine, Inc. patent infringements

interchange-users@icdevgroup.org interchange-users@icdevgroup.org
Thu Sep 19 22:50:02 2002


On Thu, Sep 19, 2002 at 07:36:26PM -0700, Charles Chang wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> I've been contacted by a lawyer who represents a
> company called divine, Inc.  They claim that my
> website has infringed U.S. Patent Nos. 5,715,314 and
> 5,909,492. I have been using Interchange for about a
> year for my online store. The lawyer asked me my
> yearly sale and proposed one-time license fee of
> $5,000 based on my yearly gross volume sale of
> $20,000.
> 
> He also said that any site that uses ability to
> accululate items and then checkout those (i.e.
> shopping cart capability) is infringing divine's
> Patents.
> 
> I have no intention of infinging anybody's Patents,
> and I always had impression that using Interchange was
> free under GNU license.
> 
> Should I pay the $5,000 fee and get over with the
> license?  Or is he bullshitting?  What will happen to
> me if I ignore this? 

I'd suggest you contact the FSF at address you'll find on
the license text for IC.  (GPL).  They'll be able to
guide you from there.

Please provide to the list the name and firm of
the lawyer that contacted you.  Better if we are
prepared.

Google him too.

> 
> Thanks.
> Charles
> 
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-- 

Christopher F. Miller, Publisher                               cfm@maine.com
MaineStreet Communications, Inc           208 Portland Road, Gray, ME  04039
1.207.657.5078                                         http://www.maine.com/
Content/site management, online commerce, internet integration, Debian linux