[ic] divine, Inc. patent infringements

Dan Browning interchange-users@icdevgroup.org
Thu Sep 19 22:59:01 2002


At 10:49 PM 9/19/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>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.

IANAL [I am not a lawyer], but it sounds absolutely ridiculous to me.  Your 
lawyer might recommend a counter-lawsuit if they try to take it any 
further.  Contacting the FSF is very good advice.  Cheers,

--
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| Dan Browning, Kavod Technologies      <dan.browning@kavod.com> |
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