On 2003-09-02 13:02:39 -0400, Igor Filippov wrote:
> It seems the patent in question covers not only client-side
> executables, but server-side as well:
> "Once selected the program object executes on the
> user's (client) computer or may execute on a remote server or additional
> remote computers"
> So, not only javascript/flash/java are subjects of this copyright
> but any CGI/whatnot application as well - or am I reading it wrong ?

I think you are. I'm not sure about reading it correctly, either, but
two central parts of the patent seem to be that the object is embedded
in the web page (which is not the case for CGI etc. - they send whole
web pages) and that there is a communication channel between the program
and the browser window for communicating UI events to allow using the
program interactively. While the language is vague, this implies to me
events like mouse movements and clicks, keystrokes, etc, not just the
clicking on a submit button or link (which wouldn't have been any
innovation in 1994, forms did already exist).

The patent as a whole sounds very much like the embedded X servers which
appeared around 1995/96, IIRC. I think there was at least a free
implementation from the X11 consortium and a commercial one from
Hummingbird (both as plugins for Netscape).

hp

--
_ | Peter J. Holzer | Unser Universum wäre betrüblich
|_|_) | Sysadmin WSR / LUGA | unbedeutend, hätte es nicht jeder
| | | hjp (at) wsr.ac (dot) at [email concealed] | Generation neue Probleme bereit.
__/ | http://www.hjp.at/ | -- Seneca, naturales quaestiones

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