[ic] divine, Inc. patent infringements

Schuyler W Langdon interchange-users@icdevgroup.org
Fri Sep 20 01:14:01 2002


> 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?
>
> Thanks.
> Charles
>

These online business method patents should not hold water, once the
"mystique" of the internet wears off. I can't imagine that Open Market, if
that's who really contacted you, would go after a company with your sales
level. But purchasing a licensing fee from them would be the virtual
equivalent of buying the Brooklyn Bridge. If these patents where applied to
"bricks and mortar" scenerios, such as the express lane at your local
supermarket,  they never would have been issued. Common sense (and some very
deep pockets) would dictate that these patents will not hold up. But usually
common sense is the last thing you get when money and lawyers are added to
the mix. Didn't Amazon win it's lawsuit over B & N?

--
Schuyler Langdon
GatorDev