One of INSP's recent "pending" patent applications...
Many feel this entire patent application game has gotten completely out of hand in recent years. Some companies (such as INSP) make a really big deal about all the many dozens of patents they have applied for ("pending") in their press releases, annual reports, and in interviews, as well as during their shareholders meetings...not to mention always boasting about the few patents that they have actually been awarded by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Note: I don't ever recall Bill Gates constantly bragging about the dozens (mostly likely hundreds, or even thousands) of patents that MSFT has either applied for, and/or been granted over the past many years.
No doubt, someone (perhaps INSP <g>) will soon try to get a "patent" for using a single finger to scratch your butt ("wirelessly," of course), instead of the old fashion way of using at least three or four fingers of one entire hand (and for some, even all the fingers on both hands...LOL). An article regarding this patent game was referred to in this old SI post from last year, which outlines this relatively "new" Internet patent problem fairly well: #reply-14014839
INTERNET PATENTS GETTING OUT OF HAND
By Mike Tarsala, CBS. MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 9:36 PM ET July 8, 2000 NewsWatch
(Just two excerpts)
SAN FRANCISCO (CBC.MW) -- While it's true that a lot of the new patents truly are legitimate one-of-a-kind inventions, an alarming number of new patents seem to be just plain bogus when it comes to the Internet....
Egghead.com is far from the only company with questionably broad patents. InfoSpace (INSP: news, msgs) has one for its method of tracking purchases over the Internet. In essence, its process identifies the site shoppers originally were referred from, so the referral site gets partial credit for the sale. Consider the business practice outside the realm of the Internet, though. Why does a simple sales referral method deserve a patent?
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BTW, to digress for a moment, many people don't realize that any stock which trades under $5 per share, is now commonly referred to as a "penny stock." Once a stock gets below that level few institutional investors (or analysts)...not to mention Wall Street...take much notice in the company. Many once high-flying over-hyped companies whose stock price once looked like it was going to the moon, but have since plummeted (like INSP) to those "penny stock" levels, just plain very often never recover. A stock's "de-listing" (from the NASDAQ stock exchange, for example) is a different matter entirely. To be "de-listed," a stock's price needs to fall below $1.00/share for 3 consecutive months. And then, all kinds of requirements can be imposed on the company by a stock exchange, before it is de-listed...although they often just declare bankruptcy, get acquired, or just completely fold up shop, and walk away...and/or become an OTC BB stock.
Oh, and BTW also. It's been pointed out to the past few days that at least one notorious INSP stock hypester who apparently continually posts "positive" news about INSP day and night, seven days a week...with an almost unending list of innumerable "links" on at least three other Internet financial chat message boards (and who is also known for "attacking" SI, and some of its posters, on the other boards he posts on), regarding anything and everything that might even remotely construed as "positive" news involving anything to do with INSP and/or its founder Jain (although, apparently he hasn't yet posted the brand name or color of Jain's underpanties yet, but many of his followers may wait with baited breath for that important stock info. <g>). Anyway, apparently this guy has been literally "stealing" some of my posts here on SI. Apparently most recently he has blatantly copied my research posts regarding INSP's patents, posted on this Silicon Investor thread. In some cases he has apparently actually altered my posts, and then re-posted them on his boards, as if he "researched" and/or found the links and information contained within the posts himself. Some people just seem completely incapable of appreciating and comprehending the legal (and moral) concept of, "The TRUTH, the WHOLE TRUTH, and NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH."
Just one of several recent blatant examples of my research posts on SI about INSP's patents, being stolen (IMO, literally "forged"), altered, and then re-posted by this particular guy on both Yahoo and Raging Bull (apparently the same guy also posts on Motley Fool, often sending links back and forth to himself all day, on different boards...Oh, he's such a very busy boy...same car, different model)....(please note the dates and times):
My original post on this SI thread:
#reply-16226848
As the "altered" (unlinked) post appeared two days later on Raging "Bull":
thomsoninvest.ragingbull.com
Now, I sure as heck don't mind someone referring my posts. But, to not even post a "link" to the original SI post, and then to give the impression that the ideas, links, and/or research in ANY post here on Silicon Investor (or anywhere else, for that matter) is yours and not the true "author's," strikes me a completely dishonest at the very least....and most likely a violation of U.S. copyright laws. When referring to a post on another message board, a simple "link" to the original posts would be minimally the "honest" way to disseminate the information and thoughts of another original poster. And NOT trying to give the impression to your minions that you found the information or did the research all on your own (a.k.a.: "With A Little Help From My Friends."), using the term "friends" extremely loosely.
It's funny, but the few times I've stumbled into some of the more notorious financial cyberspace chat site swamps of the Internet (outside of SI), generally all I've seen is endless posturing, personal attacks, "old news" links to company press releases and partnerships that anybody can read for themselves if they simply hit the stock's "news" button once or twice a month...as well as completely useless speculation about whether the stock's price will move up or down a few pennies that day. It's absolutely amazing to me that so many of these people are so incredibly deluded into actually believing that their endless 24/7 "pumping" (or dumping") posts will actually affect the stock's daily price even a single penny per share. Yet on some stock sites there are people who seemingly believe if they post the same crap day in and day out, they'll actually "will" the stock's price to move one way or another...just because of some silly posts they make, whether accurate and true or not. Just amazing!...Sorry, I just felt like like "venting" for a moment. Okay, I feel much better now. <ggg>
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Anyway, to make a short story as long as possible <g>, as IMHO, there hasn't any "real" news regarding this company in some time... here's a link to what I believe to be one of the most recent patent applications ("pending") by INSP (Note, the full link goes on for many pages, with just a few excerpts provided below):
appft1.uspto.gov
United States Patent Application #20010013069
Kind Code A1
Shah, Niraj A.
August 9, 2001
Data messaging aggregation
Abstract
The present invention provides a system and method that allows the user to compose a message that is addressed and sent to a variety of destinations, including: personal desktop portal (PDP) users, instant messaging users, e-mail addresses, cell phones, pagers, and the like. The user specifies as many different destinations in a single message as desired, and instantly sends the message with a single click of a (mouse/button???)
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Inventors: Shah, Niraj A.; (Issaquah, WA)
Correspondence Name and Address:
CHRISTENSEN, O'CONNOR, JOHNSON, KINDNESS, PLLC
1420 FIFTH AVENUE, SUITE 2800
SEATTLE, WA 98101-2347
US
Assignee Name and Address:
InfoSpace, Inc.
Serial No.: 747318
Series Code: 09
Filed: December 20, 2000
U.S. Current Class: 709/238
Intern'l Class: G06F 015/173
(Below are a few brief excerpts from the patent application "linked" above)
CLAIMS
What is claimed is:
1. A client-based messaging method, comprising: providing destination information for a plurality of recipients to a messaging client; and sending a message to each recipient based on said destination information without regard to the type of recipient messaging device. |
