Mel,
I received the following from a source that is supplying info to all defendants in the suit. I would love to hear your patent expert friend as well your comments on the following. like i said, it has been sent to defendants in the case, so no doubt it will come up very very soon. Please read and let us all know your thoughts. You have continually said only "prior art" can squash e-data, is this it?
!19960718 Beginning of the end for E-data patent
What follows is a story about some prior art that pretty much is the beginning of the end of the E-data patent (thanks to my sources for supplying me with the information). With the business network security papers of IBM and papers on general videotex systems dating from the late 1970s, there is enough to kill the E-data patent on obviousness, if not novelty. It's about time that the PTO on its own reexamined the E-data patent, much like it did with Compton's, the Bunny Rabbit and the Billings patent. We can suspend all these wasteful court actions, and the PTO can get credit for killing the software patent. But the patent should be killed.
Repeatedly software patents from the 1980s are being invalidated with nondisclosed prior art. Yet thousands of software patents being issued now cite no more prior art than these 1980s patents, while not being that much more sophisticated, yet there is 15 years more prior art available to be cited for these mid 1990s patents, little of which is being cited. Much like these 1980s patents, these 1990s patents should not be issued, some of which will go on to cause similar nuisance lawsuits.
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Ladies and Gentlemen:
I recently received the "Amnesty Packet" from E-Data, and although it
doesn't apply to anything my company is doing, it sure as heck sounded
strange to me, given that I had been a commercial customer of what was
clearly 'prior art' many, many years previously. It is, therefore, in the interest of setting the record straight, and getting credit given where credit is due to one of the computer industry's true pioneers, that I present you with what (at least to my unlawyerly eyes) is clearly and indubitably prior art on the Freeny patent:
In 1979, a talented and entrepreneurial Apple II programmer in Torrance, CA, named Ed Magnin had the bright idea to sell and distribute software electronically. He set up a company, which he called the Telephone Software Connection, designed the software, servers, etc. for online software delivery, and went into business. He advertised his service in the early computer magazines (Byte, et al), sent out flyers, and was on his way.
TSC was a truly brilliant, innovative and effective system. Here's how it worked: you would use your 300 bps Hayes Micromodem (remember, this is in 1979!) to dial into the TSC system right from Applesoft BASIC ("]PR#3 ATDT 1-xxx-xxxx" for those of you old enough to remember). Once you were connected to the system, it would display welcome information, and an online catalog of the various programs available. There were full commercial applications, demo versions, some free teasers, and more. You would enter your credit card information, which would then be validated off-line, and decide which programs you wanted to buy. Since this was in the days before terminal emulators (!), the TSC system would automatically take control of your computer, and download a transfer program, which would then run at your end, and pull down the software for which you had paid.
The software would be stored on your disk, and you would be in business. Instant gratification, clean, well-documented software (written in unprotected Applesoft BASIC, so you could examine the source), and a dream of a system.
As one of the few early publishers of commercial software, TSC grew
rapidly. At its peak, Ed had over 10,000 customers (including, in addition to myself, such luminaries as Herbie Hancock, Todd Rundgren and others.)
The company was covered in articles in various computer magazines, as well as in mainstream media such as the Wall Street Journal. As a spin-off of his TSC customer base, Ed then started the world's first consumer e-mail network (based on the GTE Telemail system), but that's another story. By 1986, however, the computer industry had changed drastically, and the small-guy-in-a-garage was no longer a viable player. The Corvus OmniDrives that were at the heart of the TSC server finally gave out, and the customer base had moved on to other supply sources. Ed closed down TSC, and whatever rights there were in it reverted to him.
Deciding at that point to get a steady job rather than start up another risky business, Ed turned his programming skills to computer and video game design, and has spent the last decade programming hit games for companies including Microprose, Cinemaware, Virgin Games and Konami, having put the seven-year Telephone Software Connection experience behind him.
hen I was surprised at the 1983 electronic commerce claim by E-Data, I
made it a point to track Ed down (he was one of my early heroes), and ask him about it. While he went on at great length reminiscing about the early TSC days (he's quite a talkative guy), he hadn't heard about the E-Data suits, and no one has ever spoken with him about the electronic POS commerce he pioneered with TSC.
He no longer has the 10,000 name customer list from those days, but he does still have a file of the press coverage his innovative service received, and he gave me permission to pass his name onto all of you if you would like more information. So, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the _true_ originator (circa 1979) of...
"a system and method whereby digital data products are made available for purchase at a point of sale (POS) location and produced in a material object. The products are included in a catalog with a specific price for each item. The specific product that is requested to be purchased is typically reproduced electronically in usable form at the POS location after payment terms are satisfied. In today's vernacular, the patent describes on-demand electronic distribution."
[taken from the E-Data FAQ]... |
