Itanic strikes iceberg, iceberg sinks
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Xerox beats its chest at Google and Yahoo
MAKER OF THINGS that put ink on paper, Xerox has filed a lawsuit against Google, Yahoo and Youtube in the US over alleged patent infringements on its own search technology.
According to Business Week, Xerox alleges that Google, Yahoo and Youtube have infringed on a US patent Xerox owns called System for Automatically Generating Queries, otherwise catchily titled as US patent number 6,778,979. This patent was granted to Xerox in 2004 and the complaint claims that user search requests in Google's Adsense and Adwords products violate Xerox's automatically generating queries technology.
Not happy with trying to take on just Google, Xerox is also baring its legal fangs at Yahoo. It believes that a host of Yahoo's search technologies including Y!Q Contextual Search, Yahoo! Search Marketing and Yahoo! Publisher Network are liable for patent infringement as well.
Xerox also owns another patent called Method and Apparatus for the Integration of Information and Knowledge (6,236,994), which might also be violated by Google's Maps, Video and Youtube services.
Xerox developed the patents as part of its research into managing documents on the web. It is seeking injunctions and damages, and has requested a jury trial.
Business Week reported that Xerox sought out of court discussions with both Google and Yahoo to no avail. Bill McKee, a spokesman for Xerox said, "We've been in dialogue with Google and Yahoo for some time without coming to a resolution. We believe we have no option but to file suit to properly protect our intellectual property." µ
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Why did they wait till now to spring this? If they have been watching and waiting till they could make the most money off of this (which would not be out of Xerox' nature) then I hope this gets thrown out and Xerox made to pay any legals incurred on it!
Toner, not ink...
http://www.xerox.com/go/xrx/template/inv_rel_newsroom.jsp?app=Newsroom&ed_name=NR_2008Nov18_Ultra_Low_Melt_EA_Toner&format=article&view=newsrelease&Xcntry=USA&Xlang=en_US
@ Mitchell - that might be what Xerox is hoping for!
@luddite - yes, they can. Basically, everything a computer does, 'could' be done manually. Heck, people can even patent roses!
But just because you've computerized a process that could be done manually, doesn't mean it's patentable, let alone enforceable in court.
In the old days, advertisements simply put a code such as "Dept. PE" into mail address to indicate which publication had brought it in.
The overarching plague is of moneyed interests who turn patent and court systems into a profit center. That's what happens when you let *money* become the *sole* pursuit. We're losing *civil* society because that pursuit funds itself, and has bought traitorous politicians to remove all effective limits on incomes.
Microsoft buys Xerox. Game Over. Microsoft has more cash on hand than Xerox's worth.