[ic] divine, Inc. patent infringements

interchange-users@icdevgroup.org interchange-users@icdevgroup.org
Thu Sep 19 23:06:01 2002


On Thu, Sep 19, 2002 at 08:00:26PM -0700, Dan Browning wrote:
> 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,

Divine bought OpenMarket.  They do have some patents that could
be interpreted to own online shopping.  Don't treat this lightly.

I do remember when we got our OpenMarket beta kit that we were already 
running Vend.  Presumably their patents would have predated that beta by
a long time.  Then again, Vend was not the first shopping cart.

> 
> --
> /~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\
> | Dan Browning, Kavod Technologies      <dan.browning@kavod.com> |
> | (360) 882-7872 x7, 6700 NE 162nd Ave, Suite 210, Vancouver, WA |
> \~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/
> God must love the Common Man; He made so many of them.
> 
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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